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GIFT   OF 

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•  nd 

6BM6I   I.UKHRAN      MKVKK  ELSASSKK 

1)K.  JOHN  R.  IIAYM.S    WILLIAM   L  HONNOLD 

JAMES  K.  MARTIN  MIS. JOSEPH  K SARTORI 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

SOUTHERN  BRANCH 


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Tides  and  Tendencies. 


Tides  and  Tendencies 


OF 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT. 


BY 

J.  L.  DUDLEY. 


Non  quceras  quis  hoc  dixerit,  sed  quid  dicatur  attende. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
CLAXTON,  REMSEN  &  HAFFELFINGER, 

624,  626  &  628  MARKET  STREET. 
1873'. 

11 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  by 

<  LAXTON,  1:1  M  I  U TELFINGER, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


j   1  ■ 


-  "V-  _. 
a-tf*".;         8n:iin.!'.i >  n.i\i'i:M,        'vflrv. 

7*<i    «  PHILADELPHIA.  \dT' 


la  t 


5) 

I 


THE   MULTITUDE   OF    MEN   AND  WOMEN 

WHO,  IN   SILENCE   AND   THRALL, 

ARE  HUNGERING  FOR  MORE 

BOUNTIFUL  DAYS. 


PREFACE. 


fe 


'HPHIS  book  is  made  up  of  Discourses  thrown 
off  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  in  the  ordinary- 
course  of  Pulpit  administration,  and  Phonograph- 
ically  reported  for  the  Secular  Press.  The  concur- 
rent judgment  and  continuous  demand  of  others, 
commanding  the  author's  entire  respect,  have  caused 
C  them  to  be  gathered  from  their  fugitive  fortunes, 
and  presented  in  a  more  readable  and  permanent 
form. 

Literary  merit  is  not  their  claim.  Spoken  ex- 
temporaneously before  a  popular  audience,  their 
free,  somewhat  diffuse,  and  almost  conversational 
style  is  thence  explained.  , 

To  every  observing  mind,  Tides  and  Tendencies  of 
Religious  Thought,  marked  and  unmistakable  as  they 
are   legitimate   and   hopeful,    constitute   a   leading 


IX 


x  PREFA 

feature  of  the  times.  Such  tendencies  the  present 
volume  seeks  to  cherish  and  reflect. 

This    1  would    be    incomplete   without    ac- 

knowledgment of  the  kind  offices  of  another,  to  the 
superintendence  of  whose  practiced  eye  and  hand, 
while  the  volume  was  passing  through  the  press, 
these  pages  are  indebted  for  much  of  their  attrac- 
tiveness. 

J.  L.  D. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGR 

I.  SALVATION  BEFORE  CHRIST          .        .        .13 
II.   THE  TWO  COVENANTS 32 

III.  THE  METHOD  OF  REVELATION  .        .        .     50 

IV.  THE    ONENESS    OF  RELIGION  AND    THE 

RACE 71 

V.  IMITATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT        .        .  85 

VI.  CHARITY 102 

VII.  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MODERN  THOUGHT  112 

VIII.  FEAR  AND  LOVE 130 

IX.   THE  WORTH  OF  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  AP- 
PROPRIATE TREATMENT        .        .        .       141 

X.  SALVATION—  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  VIEW   157 

XI.  HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT,  NOT  A   SUBSTI- 
TUTE     171 

XII.  MAN'S    NATURE    DEVELOPED    BY    THE 

QUICKENING  PO  WER  OF  GOD'S  NA  PURE    185 

XIII.  A    SUFFERING    CHRIST   IN  NORMAL    AC- 

CORD  WITH  NATURE  AND  REASON        .  197 

XIV.  DOMINION  OF  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER  .       210 

xi 


xi!  •  rs. 

TACK 

XV.  DEBT?— OR   GIFT? 227 

XVL  DRAWING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD      .        .        .237 

XVII.   THE  LAMBHOOD  OF  GOD  — AND  HOW  IT 

TAKES  AWAY  SIN 249 

XVIII.  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES       .        .      270 

XIX.  PERSONAL    RIGHTEOUSNESS— THE    RE- 
LIGION OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT       .  288 

XX.  A  COMPARISON  BETWEEN  THE  OLD  DIS- 
PENSATION AND  THE  NEW  .         .         .       296 


Tides  and  Tendencies 

OF 

RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT. 


I. 

SAL  VA  TION  BEFORE  CHRIST. 

There  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven 
whereby  we  must  be  saved.  —  Acts  iv.  1 2. 

MY  subject  this  morning  is  enunciated  in  the  fol- 
lowing proposition,  namely:  The  only  religion 
that  saves  mankind  is  that  which  bears  the  Christian 
name.  My  text  is:  "There  is  no  other  name  given 
under  heaven  whereby  we  must  be  saved."  "  This 
is  the  stone  which  is  set  at  naught  by  the  builders ; 
neither  is  there  salvation  by  any  other." 

Salvation  —  saved  !  saved  !  Deeply  reposing  in 
the  tranquil  solitude  of  every  human  spirit  is  the 
dream,  nay  hope,  expectation,  of  some  final  state  of 
peace,  beauty,  and  perfectness.  Musing. upon  the 
vicissitudes  of  life  and  time,  conscious  of  their  con- 
flict, of  their  tears,  their  ecstasy,  aspiration,  native 
and  instinctive,  wedded  to  hope  equally  congenital, 
the  soul  looks  across  the  water,  beyond  the  hills  and 
horizons  of  time,  to  the  far-off  bright  shore,  and  there 
expects  a  landing  upon  a  new  world,  a  beautiful 
world  of  God ;  a  world  which  is  to  sum  up  all  that 
2  13 


M  '  '  .'■/•.  CHRIST. 

ho]  reality,  and  faith  takes  in  as  fruition. 

And  this  has  been  the  dream,  the  faith  of  our  race; 
all  peoples  h  expected,  and  have  indicated  to 

themselves   the  I    fact   under  various   symbols. 

The  Orientals,  looking  forward  thus,  said  there  was 
len,  a  beautiful  paradise,  beyond  this  dream- 
life,  this  winter-life  of  tears  and  suffering.      The  cul- 
tivated Pagan  spoke  of  a  bright  Elysium,  sometimes 
if  the  blessed,  as  the  final  home  of  the 
soul.      In   Christian   symbolism,  the  very   same   ii      i 
conies  to  us,  as  the  paradise  of  God,  the  new  para- 
dise, not  the  old  —  the  spiritual  paradise  for  those 
who  have  overcome  —  under  the  figure  of  a  city,  the 
city  of  God,  the  beautiful  city,  the  city  of  the  great 
King.     It  is  thought  of  as  a  new  country,  new  realm, 
wherein  are  thrones,  and  principalities,  and  sceptres, 
and  crowns,  and  honors.      In  a  general  sense,  Chris- 
tian thinking  and  Christian   faith  sum  themselves  up 
and  ultimate   in  the   idea  of  a  sociality,  a  common- 
wealth, a  new  kingdom,  as   I  said,  the  city  of  God; 
in  one  word,  heaven.     That  we  may  bring  this  whole 
subject  matter  of  the  text  more   usefully  upon  our 
thought,  let  us  aid  ourselves  at  the  outset  by  giving 
ial  attention  to  three  or  four  particulars. 
Holding  the  Christian   idea  under  the  symbolism 
of  a  city,  the  city  of  God,  the  heavenly  city,  I  should 
remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  we  think  of  but  one 
entrance  into  that  city,  and  we  think  correctly.     There 
ae,  but  one  gateway,  one  door,  only  one  ;  and 
with   this  exclusive;  f  entrance,  lines  of  ap- 

proach are  coming  from  the  east,  and  from  the  west, 


KE  Y  TO  THE  HE  A  VENL  Y  CITY.  1 5 

and  from  the  north,  and  from  the  south,  trailing  along, 
pathways  meeting  at  this  very  central  gateway ;  and 
all  the  way  between  them  are  countless  pathways 
whose  converging  point  is  this  very  one  exclusive 
gateway.  So  that  from  every  clime,  and  kindred, 
and  nation,  and  tongue,  from  every  age,  from  every 
point,  these  pathways  come,  terminating,  inwardly, 
at  the  gate  of  entrance  into  the  city. 

The  second  thing  I  notice  particularly,  is  the  fact 
that  comers  thereto  must  have  some  certificate  of  right 
to  enter;  they  must  be  able  to  give  some  unmis- 
takable countersign ;  must  have  a  key  whose  skill 
shall  fit  the  ward  that  makes  the  lock  that  guards 
the  one  gateway  to  the  heavenly  city.  And  what  is 
that  key  ?  This,  exactly  and  exclusively  :  the  Christ 
character  in  the  suitor;  the  Christ  character.  Not 
only  the  Christ  name,  but  that  which  is  named,  the 
pilgrim  must  possess.  Having  that  key,  he  passes 
in,  no  matter  where  he  got  it.  No  matter  whether 
a  son  of  the  sun,  or  a  son  of  the  sea ;  no  matter 
whether  a  native  of  the  forest,  or  a  native  of  the  last 
consummate  flower  of  civilization  and  culture.  Has 
he  that  key,  the  Christ  character  in  his  character, 
the  pearly  gate  swings  and  he  shares  the  inward 
sceptre. 

Notice,  in  the  third  place,  there  can  be  no  substitute 
for  this  key.  There  is  no  substitutional  device  can- 
onized in  heaven  or  earth,  whereby  a  so-called  saint, 
not  a  saint  in  character,  can  pick  the  lock  of  heaven. 
No  substitute ;  no  substitute  in  theory,  no  substitute 
in  creed,  no  substitute  in  character.     It  must  be  per- 


1 6  SALVA  /'/<  >X  BE  i  ORE   (  UK  IS  T. 

son;il  character  I  ing  to  the  suitor  himself;  per- 

sonal, just  like  Christ's  character. 

'1'hc  fourth  thing  to  be  noticed  particularly  here, 
is,  that  all  mankind,  from  fust  to  last,  have  had  and 
shall  have  a  fair  chance  in  this  matter.  There  is  no 
poor,  unfortunate  culprit,  so  termed,  created  with 
broken  limb,  with  monstrosity  of  function,  with 
damnation  written  in  sympathetic  ink  in  his  nature, 
purposely  that  some  fire-flash  might  bring  it  to  legi- 
bility. God  has  not  created  one  soul  in  conditions 
of  impossibility  of  salvation,  and  then  damned  it  for 
not  being  saved.  That  is  what  I  am  trying  to  say; 
that  is  the  particular  thing  to  be  noticed  here. 
Every  soul  has  the  opportunity  of  being  saved  to 
the  extent  that  God  demands  that  he  be  saved;  and 
1  will  show  you  why,  presently. 

Now,  after  this  test,  this  sesame,  certificate,  key  — 
in  a  word,  this  character  by  Christ  Himself,  there 
arise  some  very  important  questions  out  of  the  matter; 
and  there  come,  streaming  out  of  the  whole  of  it, 
some  inferences  which  the  premises  necessitate. 
To  these  let  us  now  especially  attend. 

First,  were  any  saved  before  Christ  came  into  the 
world  —  Christ,  the  only  name  given  under  heaven 
whereby  it  is  possible  to  be  saved?  Were  any 
saved  before  He  was  named  in  time,  before  the 
:  Id  knew  of  Him,  before  the  world  heard  of  Him, 
during  the  long  ages,  the  mighty  centuries  that 
waded  through  the  night  of  uncertain  prophecy? 
An}-  saved  then?  The  mighty  millions,  the  billows 
of  generations  that  rolled  over  the  sea,  did  any  of 


IMPORTANT  QUESTIONS.  1 7 

them  dash  and  sparkle  on  the  bright  shore  ?  or  did 
they  all  go  down  to  the  night-place  ?  A  fair  ques- 
tion, this.  We  show  neither  our  Christianity  nor  our 
manliness  by  blinking  it,  or  telling  the  inquirer  that 
he  may  not  broach  such  a  question.  That  is  the 
way  skeptics  are  made ;  and  infidels  come  to  scoff  at 
the  scheme  of  religion  offered  them  in  Christ,  in- 
voking, as  they  say,  the  contempt  of  their  reason. 
Don't  do  it.  Ask  the  question :  Were  any  saved 
prior  to  about  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  ?  Too 
horrible,  indeed,  to  think  of  the  negative  answer ; 
too  terrible  an  impeachment  of  the  Christian  concep- 
tion of  the  Divine  attributes ;  too  violent  a  logic  to 
make  any  man  respectable,  or  rather  leave  him 
respectable,  even  here  in  the  dark  short-sighted 
ways  of  time. 

Again,  if  any  were  saved  before  Christ  was  heard 
of  in  this  world,  how  were  they  saved?  But  I 
ought  to  have  begun  the  question  a  little  back  of 
that.  On  the  supposition  that  Christ  is  the  only 
name  given  under  heaven  whereby  salvation  is  pos- 
sible, and  you  are  pleased  to  suppose  that  some 
were  saved  before  He  came  into  the  world  —  how 
were  they  saved  ?  This  inquiry  throws  us  back  in 
the  next  place  upon  the  great  ante-Christian  economy. 
Assuming  that  men  were  saved  before  Christ,  and 
that  there  is  no  possible  salvation  but  in  and  through 
Christ,  then  you  have  got  to  have  Christ  back  there 
somehow  and  some  way.  And  that  is  what  the 
truth  is.     He  was  there. 

We  are    fond  of  calling  Christianity  a  universal 

2*  B 


1 8  SA!  I  CUR  is 

religion;  and  we  compliment  ourselves  by  whetting 
our  sharpness  to  the  executive  efficiency  that  detects 
and  eliminates,  uot  only  from  human  nature  but  from 
the  Divine  nature,  the  elements  of  this  universality. 

It  is  a  beautiful  problem  ;  the  more  we  work  that 
the  better.  Here  is  a  good  place  to  take  up  the 
thought  —  the  universality  of  the  Christian  religion. 
If  any  were  saved  before  they  ever  heard  of  Christ, 
before  He  was  ever  preached  to  them,  before  any 
preachers  were  sent  for  that  purpose,  how  did  it 
happen  ?  What  was  the  manner  and  method  thereof? 
Let  us  see. 

There  were  poets  before  the  canons  of  poetry. 
There  were  navigators  before  the  art  of  navigation. 
So  there  were  Christians  before  the  era  of  Chris- 
tianity. Back  in  old  Judaism  we  believe  that  multi- 
tudes were  saved  ;  saved  by  the  Christ,  who  was,  and 
is,  and  is  to  be,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for- 
ever; saved  by  this  one  grand  universal  Christ- 
scheme  of  human  salvation,  which  underlay  all  the 
types  and  shadows,  —  which  underflows  the  whole 
surface  of  time.  We  believe  they  were  saved  back 
there.  Christ  himself,  after  he  had  come  into  the 
world  and  begun  to  teach,  said:  "Search  the  Scrip- 
tures, for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life,  and 
they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  Christianity 
was  a  salvation  back  there,  or  else  Christianity  is  not 
the  only  religion  that  can  saw.  (  Hherwise  you  are 
driven  back  upon  the  negative  of  that  first  horrible 
question,  Was  it  possible  for  anybody  to  be  saved 
prior  to  eighteen  hundred  years  ago? 


UNIVERSALITY  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  IO, 

Phenomena   are    one    thing,   essence    is   another. 
Phenomena  are  ever  changing,  the  transient  aspect 
of  things  perishing  in   their    using.     Essences    are 
abiding,   the   same   yesterday,   to-day,   and   forever. 
Phenomena   are  autumn-leaves    falling  every  year ; 
that  which  is  essence  is  the  primal  vitality  and  force 
of  the  acorn,  originally  the  same  in  the  germ  as  in 
the  first  sprouting,  and  in  the  trunk  and  the  arms  a 
thousand  told,  throwing   themselves   out  into   the 
reaches  of  centuries.     There  is  that  which  is  one, 
unchangeable,  unbroken,  ever  the   same ;    and  that 
which  is  changeable,  coming,  going,  passing  away. 
Now,  is  n't  it  about  time  to  link  ourselves  with  that 
which    is    permanent    and    everlasting,    and   which 
strikes    fellowship  with   every  truth    in   the   world, 
rather  than  go  picking  up  the  autumn-leaves  that  fell 
from  last  year's  growth,  and  last  century's  growth, 
trying  to  get  life  out  of  them  ?     Is  n't  it  better  to 
stipulate  for  the  heaven  of  prophecy,  the  victorious 
Eden  at  the  other  end,  than  go  back  and  pick  from 
the  withered  flowers  of  the  primal  Eden   the  seed 
of  our  hope?     Think  of  it.     If,  now,  you  and  I  shall 
find  ourselves  able  to  stand  up  and  show  that  Chris- 
tianity has  a  right  to  this  claim  of  universality,  our 
ability  to  do  so  will  lie  along  the  fellowship  of  these 
universal    principles  which   I   have    indicated.     Our 
prayers  must  ring  with  the  significance  thereof;  our 
sermons  must  be  loaded  with  the  power  thereof;  and 
our   Christian    characters,   day  by  day,  must  show 
that  their  roots  find  nurture  just  here.     It  is  time 
that    Christianity    be    handled    under    methods    of 


20  \LVATION  /.'/'  CHRIST. 

thought  that  are  truly  cosmopolitan,  taking  in  not 

only  this  world,  but  the  world  which  is  to  conic.     It 
is  high  time  that  we  gear  ourselves  into  these  prov- 
idential advantages  which  God  is  throwing  at  our 
t  to-day. 

1  laving  thus  spoken,  by  the  light  of  our  thought 
we  find  ourselves  instantly  naming  Christ  backward 
as  well  as  forward.  lie  is  the  might)'  memorial  of 
our  race,  as  well  as  its  hope.  Along  the  track  of  the 
Christ-scheme,  on  that  scheme  of  religion  which  lie 
names,  lies  all  human  history.  Along  the  bright 
vista  ahead  lies  all  human  hope,  all  human  prophecy. 
Now  faith  finds  herself  able  to  take  up  the  univer- 
sality of  Christianity  and  to  hold  it.  Faith  now 
docs  not  hesitate ;  she  may  not  comprehend  by  her 
conception  exactly  —  that  is  not  her  business.  Rea 
son  cannot  do  this  ;  but  faith  finds  herself  challenged 
to  her  utmost.  Here  is  a  grandeur  of  function  ;  here 
she  wings  her  way  to  God  himself,  nothing  short. 
Now,  faith  hath  inspiration  that  does  not  flag  or 
wither.  Mystery  comes  pouring  into  it.  Divinity 
flows  in  like  a  life  river;  the  inspiration  is  as  the 
breathing  of  God  in  such  soul. 

All  things  arc  the  Christian's.  I  am  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,  whispers  in  his  faith  ;  a  grand  de- 
velopment, a  grand  race-growth,  a  sublime  unfolding 
tern  of  being  right  out  of  God.  This  is  the 
scheme  of  salvation  named  by  Christ,  than  which 
there  is  no  name  given  under  heaven  whereby  hu- 
manity can  be  saved.  Have  all  men,  then,  had  a 
chance  to  be  saved?     Is  there  any  exclusiveness  or 


A 


CHARACTER  THE  TEST.  21 

respect  of  persons  or  opinions  by  God  ?  Did  not 
this  scheme  of  salvation  begin  before  time  ?  Is  n't 
it  throbbing  through  all  time  ?  Will  it  not  last  on 
beyond  time,  this  one  grand  method  and  power  of 
salvation  named  by  the  Christ-God  ?  O  how  broad  ! 
how  broad ! 

O,  suitor  at  the  shining  gate,  it  will  not  be  asked 
what  tribe  you  belonged  to  on  earth ;  what  nation, 
what  kindred,  what  clime,  what  people.  It  will  not 
be  asked  what  religion  you  belonged  to  —  that  never 
will  be  thought  of.  It  will  not  be  asked  whether 
you  are  all  Puritans  or  all  Papists ;  whether  you  are 
Calvinists  or  Arminians  ;  Universalists  or  Quakers  ; 
Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  Swedenborgians,  or 
even  —  Congregationalists.  That  won't  be  asked. 
No  time  for  that  —  no  opportunity  for  such  waste  of 
heavenly  thought.  Auturryi-leaves,  all  those;  good 
in  their  season  and  for  their  use,  but  done  with  now. 
What  is  the  fruit  ?  Have  you  this  key,  this  char- 
acter? Don't  present  your  substitute;  don't  present 
your  creed  ;  don't  borrow  anybody's  opinions  ;  don't 
get  the  advantage  of  anybody's  reputation.  What 
are  you,  O  soul  ?  Show  your  mark  —  yes,  your  char- 
acter. 

I  am  in  transport,  I  confess,  at  the  grand  thought 
of  this  Divine  and  sympathetic  unfolding  of  God's 
love,  wisdom,  and  power,  on  our  nature  and  our  race! 
Here  we  are -but  little  germs  of  being;  but  little 
seminal  potencies  unstarted.  The  transporting 
thought  is,  that  I  was  created  into  this  sympathetic 
environment  of  God  which  spans  the  ages ;  whose 


RE   CHRIST. 

heart,  throbbing  hither  and  thither,  is  bounded  only 

the  boundary  of  eternity.  I  am  blooming  a  little 
to-day  beneath  this  all  ensphering  summer  of  God, 
sings  the  soul.  I  am  starting  immortal  generations 
beneath  the  favoring  touch  of  this  Divine  sympa- 
thetic provision.  And  then  I  am  kept  on  by  way 
of  transplantation  into  the  upper  garden,  "where 
'  -  walk  and  seraphs  are  the  wardens."  It  is 
transporting!  I  thank  God  to-day  for  life,  for  being. 
The  harps  we  hear  of,  the  palms  that  shall  wave, 
and  the  crowns  that  glitter,  are  only  faint  and  feeble 

abols  of  the  gushing  music  that  shall  well  up 
from  within  ;  of  the  grand  prerogatives  that  will  be 
mine  and  yours  if  we  answer  to  the  Divine  call  so 
coming  to  us  ;  and  all  thin  .11  be  but  a  stringed 

instrument  of  glory  that  will  sing  forever  and  ever 
at  our  inspiring  touch.  I  am  moved  to  ecstasy  when 
]  think  of  man's  nature,  thus  held  in  the  warm,  sym- 
pathetic environment  of  God ;  and  am  chilled  to 
frost  at  the  thought  of  repelling  and  rejecting  all 
that,  and  dreaming  of  it  after  all  opportunities  are 

t! 

][  you  would  feel  the  power  of  Christianity,  come 
down  into  the  arterial  circulation  where  the  blood 
flows,  coming  directly  warm  from  the  heart.  Don't 
live  up  among  the  blue  veins  which  have  distributed 
their  nurture  once,  and  are  going  back  to  get  a  new 
supply.  Go  down  to  the  universal,  perpetual,  vital 
elements  of  nature  and  religion.  O  how  we  belittle 
Christianity  by  doing  anything  else!  How  we  be- 
little  ourselves,  and   shrink    and  wither   by  feeding. 


ALL  HAVE  A  CHANCE.  23 

not  upon  the  substance,  not  upon  the  enduring,  but 
upon  some  mere  passing  phenomena,  some  floating 
rumors  of  the  ages,  what  some  hundreds  of  men 
voted  five  hundred  years  ago,  or  what  somebody- 
said  or  told  us  of!  How  we  become  self-belittled 
thus,  and  our  very  thinking  chatters  with  chills  and 
rattles  like  the  bones  of  the  dead.  Christ  is  the 
God  named  through  man.  The  Christ-power  is  the 
God-power  unto  salvation. 

Out  of  Paganism  it  was  also  possible  for  souls  to 
be  saved.  They  could  be  plucked  from  it  as  brands 
from  the  burning.  I  said,  in  noticing  my  fourth 
introductory  particular,  that  all  mankind  have,  and 
must  have  had,  a  chance  for  salvation,  or  the  honor 
of  God  is  in  question.  Pagans,  therefore,  must  have 
had  a  chance.  And  moreover,  if  Revelation  in  the 
New  Testament  be  true  after  it  is  made,  certainly 
they  had  ;  for  Paul  tells  us  that  they  were  without 
excuse,  not  only  for  not  worshipping  God,  but  for 
not  worshipping  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead.  ' 
Godhead  —  what  is  meant  by  that  ?  It  means  the 
Father,  means  the  Son,  means  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Now  Paganism  is  nothing  but  the  benighted,  feeble 
striving  of  man's  religious  nature  to  get  at  its 
answer ;  the  native  hunger  of  his  humanity  striving 
to  get  bread  somehow  and  somewhere.  If  it  were 
possible  for  that  hunger  to  become  conscious,  the 
counterpossibility  was,  as  it  is,  the  bread  of  life 
available.  Don't  you  know  how  in  the  old  Prophets 
it  reads  :  "  The  Desire  of  all  nations."  That  is  the 
theme  of  one  of  the  grandest  courses  of  the  Hulsean 


-M  11  I    /    ION  BEFORL    CHRIST. 

lectures,  given  by  Dean  Trench  several  years  ago  in 
England, —  Christ,  the  Desire  of  all  Nations.  Now 
if  that  desire  were  there  subjectively,  how  arc  you 
going  to  handle  the  consistency  of  Heaven,  putting 
it  there  with  no  possibility  of  getting  at  the  true 
object  of  the  desire?  It  cannot  be  done.  Mis- 
sionaries are  full  of  testimony  that  Pagans  not  unfre- 
quently  have  subjectively  the  Christ  state.  Now  the 
objective  answer  to  that  was  indicated  by  Paul. 
This  Christ  system,  which  is  the  God  system,  or 
the  way  of  God's  coming  into  us,  or  the  way  of 
God's  manifesting  himself  to  us,  has  always  been  in 
exact  providential  adaptation  to  the  time,  condition, 
and  manner  of  the  race.  Yes,  it  is  possible  for 
Pagans  to  be  saved,  or  God  would  not  hold  them 
guilty  for  not  being  saved. 

I  add  that  even  under  the  primal  condition  of  na- 
ture is  salvation  possible.  Such  teachings  have  the 
flaming  heavens  rendered  declaring  the  glory  of 
God;  such  teachings  have  the  lessons  of  the  lilies 
r  and  the  flowers  of  the  field  rendered.  It  is  possible 
for  man  to  be  saved  under  the  lessons  of  God's 
natural  world.  We  don't  look  at  this  ;  and  because 
we  don't  think  it,  fail  to  believe  it.  Why,  to  quote 
Paul  again,  his  affirmation  in  Romans  is  exactly  to 
the  point;  things  that  are  made  being  seen  from  the 
creation  of  the  world,  sufficiently  reveal  God ;  so 
that  men  are  without  excuse  for  not  knowing  Him 
and  worshipping  Him,  even  His  eternal  power  and 
Godhead  ;  which  knowledge  and  worship  bring  sal- 
vation.    We   forget  sometimes  how  beautifully  the 


SALVATION  UNDER  ALL  RELIGIONS.  2$ 

new  Book  reads :  "  By  Him  and  for  Him  are  all 
things  made  that  are  made."  He  who  names  the 
only  scheme  of  salvation  has  his  own  sign-manual  in 
these  flowers.  By  Him  and  for  Him  —  there  is  a 
great  logic  in  nature,  strung  together  by  the  Christ- 
God.  It  shakes  hands  with  the  logic  of  Providence, 
strung  together  by  the  Christ-God.  And  they  twain 
are  one  with  the  logic  of  the  Book,  strung  together 
by  the  Christ-God.  But  all  this  which  Christ  has 
joined  together,  your  scepticism  and  atheism  and 
infidelity,  and  mine,  may  not  put  asunder.  There- 
fore we  say  that  this  view  of  Him  who  names  the 
only  scheme  of  salvation,  makes  salvation  possible  in 
all  conditions  of  humanity,  in  all  races,  under  all  re- 
ligions; the  possibility  lying  exactly  here  in  the  fact 
that  God  himself,  the  Christ-God,  as  to  the  matter  in 
hand,  is  always  so  adapted  to  human  want  as  to  be 
available,  and  to  take  away  all  excuses  from  that 
-humanity,  if  the  proffered  boon  be  not  accepted. 
The  possibility  lies,  let  me  repeat,  in  the  fact  that  sal- 
vation is  ever  available  from  the  providential  adapta- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  wants  of  the  human  soul. 

Passing  this,  I  remark  again  that  we  find,  under 
such  views,  Jesus  Christ  very  much  broader  than  we 
sometimes  suppose;  the  Christian  religion  which  He 
names,  very  much  ampler  than  the  two  covers,  not 
of  this  Book,  but  some  books;  the  possibilities  of 
salvation  sweeping  a  vaster  scale  than  the  stretch 
and  the  soar  and  the  diving  of  some  men's  minds, 
would  seem  to  indicate.  In  a  word,  infinitely  broad, 
if  we  dare  to  be  consistent  —  broad  as  God  Himself, 
3 


■>:/■   CHRIST. 

whose  thought  and  whose  heart  this  scheme  of  love 
and  mercy  is.  Winn  we  come  to  take  up  the  matter 
intelligently,  thinking  about  it  as  men  can  think  a'nd 
ought  to  think,  we  find  that  this  is  the  underlying 
scheme  of  Providence.  We  find  that  God  has  but 
one  grand  scheme  of  relations  toward  man,  starting 
from  eternity,  unfolding  all  through  time,  unbroken, 
unbroken,  until  the  consummation  in  the  world  of 
eternity  at  the  other  end  ;  born  of  God,  under  the 
conduct  of  God,  maturing  in  God  at  last,  from  whom 
and  through  whom  and  to  whom  are  all  things. 

We  recollect  a  sermon  two  or  three  Sundays  ago 
on  the  coming  One,  the  memorial  Name  which  shall 
be  "my  name  forever,"  the  name  of  the  Comer. 
Here  it  is.  Christianity  has  been  coming  into  the 
world,  into  human  life,  into  human  etiaracter,  so  fast 
and  far  as  man  himself  would  permit  it,  ever  since 
men  began  to  exist.  It  is  the  unfolding  of  the 
scroll  ;  it  is  the  development  of  the  drama;  it  is  the 
growth  of  the  grand  system  of  Divine  life  propa- 
gating itself  here  in  our  human  life,  and  no  scheme 
elf-constituted  human  tinkers  to  patch  up  a  poor 
administration  of  the  Divine  government.  God 
from  beginning,  God  all  through,  and  God  at  last. 
"  I  am  the  Alpha  and  Omega,"  says  this  very  name, 
Christ,  —  "the  first  and  the  last;"  the  golden  chain 
whose  primal  link  is  a  primeval  heart-throb  of  the 
i  lasting  Jehovah,  and  whose  terminal  one  —  the 
chain  having  circled  the  universe — joins  back  to  its 
mate  in  the  beginning;  broader,  broader  vastly,  than 
He  is  sometimes  thought. 


THE  EVERLASTING  SAVIOUR.  2J 

But  passing  on,  I  notice,  in  the  next  place,  that 
just  here  it  is  that  we  strike  the  elements  of  univer- 
sality in  Christianity.  We  are  fond  of  calling  it  the 
religion  of  the  world,  the  race.  We  sometimes 
pray  for  its  diffusion.  We  sometimes  think  we  are 
heart-heavy  because  of  the  mighty  millions  given  to 
destruction  from  the  lack  of  it.  All  well  ;  but  let  us 
be  intelligent  with  ourselves.  What  are  the  ele- 
ments of  universality?  Wherein- lie  the  fitness  and 
substance  of  this  all-inclusive  characteristic?  If  we 
will  look,  —  if  we  had  time  right  here,  we  could 
come  upon  that.  Has  not  Christ  been  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever?  That  which  in  Him 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever,  makes 
Him  universal  as  the  Saviour.  That  in  Christianity 
and  its  grand  system  of  thought  and  inspiration, 
which  makes  it  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for- 
ever, constitutes  the  elements  of  universality  in  it,  fit 
for  all  time,  all  places,  all  conditions  of  man  —  start- 
ing from  God,  coming  to  God  again.  The  counter- 
truth  to  that  is  this,  namely :  that  in  man's  nature 
which  makes  him  a  fit  subject  for  what  is  universal 
in  Christ  and  his  religion,  is  the  element  of  univer- 
sality in  man,  exactly.  That  which  is  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day,  and  forever  in  man,  is  the  universality 
of  the  race,  what  is  common  to  it.  Naming  it  any- 
where, if  we  do  not  put  a  false  name,  we  hit  what  is 
in  every  man.  Exactly  the  same  in  all  men  of  all 
times,  of  all  climes,  of  all  races,  in  all  conditions  — 
exactly  the  same,  made'the  same.  Put  that  and  the 
everlasting  Christ  together,  and   as   one  is   hunger 


SALVATION  BEFORE   CHRIST. 

and  the  other  is  bread,  you  have  consummated  the 
grand  reality  of  salvation  stipulated  for  from  the 
foundation  <>f  the  world. 

I  might  delay  at  length  upon  this.    You  see  I  am 

tempted  to.  You  perceive  I  ought  to  do  it,  in  order 
to  clear  up  the  whole  matter;  but  you  give  me  not 
the  hours  to  do  it  now.  I  should  thus  be  obliged  to 
note  the  grand  native  impulses  planted  in  man's 
soul  by  God.  I  should  be  obliged  to  examine  the 
in.il  intuitions  of  his  nature  which  God  deposited 
there  as  the  postulate  of  the  argument  that  should 
link  the  human  soul  to  his  existence,  and  the  con- 
scious affirmation  of  that  existence.  I  should  be 
thrown  back  upon  the  constituent  elements  of  our 
being:  and  when  I  had  brought  them  forth,  and 
awakened  them  to  their  true  function,  then  I  could 
show  Jesus  Christ  and  His  religion,  and  you  would 
see  how  the  two  fit.  Thus  we  should  understand  in 
what  consists  the  universality  of  this  religion,  so 
Divine  and  so  human,  throbbing  and  thrilling 
through  the  history  of  the  whole  race  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting,  as  God's  grand  scheme  of 
salvation. 

But  having  said  so  much,  I  pass  on  to  ask,  Isn't  it 
about  time  in  the  world,  after  eighteen  hundred 
years,  nay,  after  four  thousand  years,  nay,  more, 
after  countless  ages,  as  science  begins  to  tell  us, 
through  which  this  Christ  drama  has  been  hinting 
and  whispering  and  struggling  itself  forth  into  man- 
ifestation—  isn't  it  about  time  to  begin  to  handle 
the   great   question    under   these   broad   elementary 


THE  UNIVERSAL   CHRIST  SCHEME.  29 

constituencies  that  enter  into  its  substance  ?  Isn't 
it  about  time  to  drop  a  great  deal  of  the  sacred 
"putter"  that  is  made  the  sum  and  substance  upon 
which  men  have  staked  their  salvation,  and  begin  to 
take  up  these  elements  of  universality,  the  great 
conception  and  scheme  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
His  religion  towards  man?  —  to  take  them  up  in  the 
length  and  breadth  and  abiding  persistency  of  their 
very  nature?  If  Christ  is  thus  broad,  if  all  the 
things  are  true  which  we  specified  in  our  introduc- 
tion, is  n't  it  about  time  for  the  intelligence  of  the 
world,  for  the  manhood  of  the  world,  to  welcome 
gladly  these  elements  of  the  problem,  and  make 
them  the  bone  and  marrow  of  pulpit-handling  and 
pew-handling?  Isn't  it  time,  in  a  word,  —  since 
God  has  struck  the  hour  for  it,  opened  the  way,  and 
unrolled  the  scroll  of  his  thought  sufficiently,  —  to 
take  up  the  universal  elements  in  this  problem  as 
they  challenge  the  reason  of  man,  that  feature  in  the 
Divine  likeness,  than  which  none  is  grander,  diviner, 
or  more  significant?  Isn't  it  better  to  be  following 
after  these  lengthening  cords,  and  holding  on  to 
those  fixed  firm  stakes  of  universality,  than  it  is  to 
be  praying  solemn  prayers  on  one  side  of  the  mouth, 
and  making  up  faces  at  rationalism  on  the  other 
side  ?  No  man  in  that  way  can  $erve  two  masters. 
The  time  is  at  hand  when  all  these  elements  of 
universality  must  be  marshalled  and  disciplined  like 
an  army  drilled,  and  all  through  Christendom,  and 
all  through  the  world,  they  must  come  together  as  a 
solid  host  to  breast  the  assaults  that  are  made  against 


30  S.l LVATION  BE  /•  <  >A'/-    ( 'HRIS /'. 

Christianity.  You  cannot  tie  up  the  old  thrums  and 
rotten  strings  that  did  baby-work  once  —  a  good 
Divine  work,  because  that  was  the  way  God  adapted 
himself  to  the  world  at  that  time.  You  are  to  have 
the  strong  cords  and  the  long  cords  —  immortally- 
long  and  divinely  strong  —  of  universality  as  they 
touch  Christ  and  his  religion  and  providence,  and  as 
they  touch  you,  your  nature,  which  that  religion  is 
for.' 

Christianity  is  no  thing  of  modern  birth,  ending 
in  apparent  death.  It  is  older  than  time,  continuing 
on  beyond  time,  born  out  of  God  and  his  eternity, 
trailing  on  the  path  of  immortality.  And  I  shall 
live  and  think  and  unfold  the  scroll  hereafter;  yea, 
not  only  as  I  could  here,  but  infinitely  better.  So 
there  comes  the  gentle,  tearful  refrain,  "  I  would  not 
live  always."  The  heart  livcth  forever.  Mightily 
more,  yonder,  shall    be  the  revelation  of  this  one 

/Christ  scheme  towards  us,  than  we  can  get  here. 
Here  it  just  germinates  in  our  conception.  There  it 
shall  bloom  and  sing  in  the  great  cantos  of  reason 
and  rhapsody,  and  there  shall  be  no  flagging  to  the 
tide  of  that  song. 

One  said  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  Thy 
likeness.  The  likeness  of  Christ  and  God  sleeps  in 
every  soul,  in  capacity.  The  problem  of  salvation 
is  to  fill  those  capacities  with  the  substance  of  the 
very  God  himself. 

See  to  it,  then,  not  only  that  you  bear  the  name 
of  the  saving  One  and  Power,  but  that  you  bear 
what   the    name   means.     When   you   think    of  the 


REMEMBER   THE  KEY.  3 1 

Central  City,  when  you  think  of  the  one  gate,  when 
you  think  of  the  multitude  of  paths  that  converge 
there,  remember  one  thing :  the  key,  nothing  but  the 
key  —  only  that.  Have  you  the  nature  as  well  as 
the  name,  the  "  I  am  "  —  who  named  the  only  power 
in  the  universe  according  to  Christianity,  by  which 
man  can  be  saved  ?  Have  you  this  key  ?  Seeking 
that,  having  it,  hold  no  anxiety  in  your  soul's  out- 
look, as  it  gazes  toward  the  land  beyond  the  great 
sea. 


II. 

THE  TWO  COVENANTS. 

'/Tie   mediator  of  the    >nnt>  covenant.  — 
Hebrews  xii.  24. 

INTIMATELY  interwoven  with  the  thought  and 
associations  of  all  Christendom,  is  the  idea  of 
two  covenants,  called  the  Old  and  the  New  ;  some- 
times called  the  "covenant  of  works"  and  the  "cove- 
nant of  grace!1 

The  old  covenant,  or  the  covenant  of  works,  so 
called,  is  held  in  this  fashion:  It  is  believed  that  God 
made  a  contract,  or  covenant,  or  agreement,  or  wh.it- 
r  word  may  best  carry  the  idea,  with  Adam,  the 
first  man  of  the  race,  as  its  head  and  representative, 
to  the  effect  that,  should  he  keep  the  command,  ob- 
serve the  prohibition,  and  successfully  carry  himself 
through  the  proposed  order  and  trial,  he  should  live, 
he  should  be  saved  ;  and  therein  and  thereby  all  his 
posterity,  the  race  of  men,  should  live  and  be  saved 
and  not  die. 

The  test  pivoted  on  a  single  prohibition.  In  the 
phrasing  of  the  Book:  "  Of  every  fruit  of  the  garden 
might  this  first  man  eat  save  one  ;  of  the  fruit  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  he  might  not  eat." 
I  0  partake  of  it  was  to  die.  And  in  that  death,  and 
in  that  failure  of  Adam's  trial,  were  involved  the 
death  and  destruction  of  all  his  posterity.    That  was 

32 


THE  COVENANT  OF  GRACE.  33 

the  first  covenant,  or  the  covenant  of  works,  based 
upon  this  primal  Edenic  transaction. 

The  problem,  you  remember,  failed.  The  first 
man  stood  not  in  his  integrity,  but  came  to  disaster. 
And  consequently,  the  idea  is,  all  mankind  are  in- 
volved in  that  disaster.  That  act  in  the  drama  is 
closed.  That  dispensation  of  works  is  ended. 
That  first  covenant  is  exploded,  and  there  is  nothing 
more  in  time  or  human  life  about  it  but  the  mere 
record  of  its  nullity. 

After  that  failure,  a  new  proposition  was  made  by 
God  ;  a  new  covenant  was  made  called  the  covenant 
of  grace,  or  Christ.  This  was  to  take  the  place  of 
the  old  one  ;  to  be  a  substitute  where  it  had  failed  ; 
a  necessity  created  by  that  very  failure ;  necessitated 
by  this  disaster  and  doom  and  death  connected  with 
the  first  covenant.  This  new  covenant  so  called, 
substituted  for  the  old  one  which  had  been  broken 
and  had  failed,  is  also  called  Christianity  or  the 
Gospel,  the  covenant  of  Christ,  the  hope  of  the 
world.  Now,  the  faith  of  the  world  pivots  on  this 
instead  of  the  other. 

So  it  seems  that  if  Adam  had  only  shown  a  little 

firmness,    had    only    stood    his    ground    under    the 

assault   of   temptation,   and    done   what    he   should 

have  done,  and  what  he  could  have  done  if  he  was 

to  blame  for  not  doing  it,  then  this  new  covenant 

had  never  had  any  necessity,  or  place,  or  fitness  of 

any  kind,  in  the  fortunes  of  the  human  race.     Had 

Adam  done  what  he  ought  to  have  done,  he  would 

have  defeated  this  latter  order  and  dispensation  of 

C 


34  THE   T\\ 

the  Gospel,  by  having  superseded  the  necessity  of 
it;  by  having  made  the  very  idea  of  it  futile,  inas- 
much as  there  would  have  been  no  need  of  it. 

Now  1  leave  it  to  you  to  manage  the  problem  — 
for  I  decline  the  responsibility  —  how  it  is  that  in- 
finite Wisdom  came  into  such  a  pass  of  things,  that 
if  Adam  had  done  what  he  ought  to  have  done,  and 
thus  had  pleased  God,  the  whole  Gospel  dispensa- 
tion would  have  been  superseded  and  we  never 
should  have  heard  of  Christ.  Life  and  immortality 
had  never  been  brought  to  light.  A  new  nature  had 
never  been  dreamed  of,  and  all  that  prophetic  vista 
of  glory  and  grandeur  which  the  unsealed  vision  of 
man  now  drinks  in  by  the  clarifying  touch  of  the 
Gospel,  had  been  as  night,  as  nothing,  never  having 
come  so  much  as  into  the  dream  of  human  anticipa- 
tion. Mad  Adam  pleased  God  at  first,  he  would 
have  wiped  out  the  second  Adam  in  advance,  and 
all  the  grandeur  and  glory  resulting  therefrom.  You 
must  manage  that  for  yourselves.  Such  is  the  putting 
and  position  of  matters. 

That  I  speak  not  at  random  when  I  say  that  the 
general  belief  and  acknowledged  faith  of  Protestant 
Christendom  with  regard  to  the  two  covenants  —  the 
one  substituted  for  the  other,  and  the  necessity  of 
the  second  created  by  the  failure  of  the  first  —  is  as 
above  stated,  is  obvious.  For,  on  this  very  point, 
that  celebrated  document,  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion or  Catechism,  speaks  directly,  sustaining  exactly 
this  view. 

The    1 2th   article   of  that  Confession   reads  thus: 


THE   WESTMINSTER  CONFESSION.  35 

"  When  God  had  created  man  he  entered  into  a  cov- 
enant of  life  with  him,  upon  condition  of  perfect 
obedience,  forbidding  him  to  eat  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of'  good  and  evil,  upon  the  pain  and 
penalty  of  death."  The  16th  article  reads  thus: 
"  A  covenant  being  made  with  Adam,  not  only  for 
himself  but  for  his  posterity,  all  mankind  sinned  in 
him  and  fell  with  him."  The  15th  article  is  on  this 
wise :  "  The  sin  whereby  our  first  parents  fell  was 
their  eating  the  forbidden  fruit!''  And  then  comes  in 
the  20th  article :  "  God,  of  his  own  good  pleasure, 
did  enter  into  a  covenant  with  Christ  to  deliver  man 
out  of  a  state  of  sin  and  misery,  and  bring  him  into 
salvation  by  a  Redeemer." 

This  is  standard  authority,  and  is  the  same  thing 
that  we  just  presented.  The  whole  grounds  on  the 
Edenic  transaction. 

It  is  assumed,  you  perceive,  that  before  the  fall  no 
covenant  of  grace  was  needed.  God  was  running  the 
world  very  much  on  the  system  that  men  sometimes 
call  Deism  —  the  system  that  recognizes  God,  indeed, 
out  of  sight,  but  no  revelation  of  Himself  in  any 
distinct  or  set  form.  This  assumption  carries  the 
idea  that  there  was  no  Christianity,  no  Gospel,  no 
Christ,  no  new  covenant,  prior  to  the  failure  of  the 
Edenic  transaction,  which  necessitated  Christ  and 
the  Gospel  and  the  covenant  of  grace.  It  assumes 
that  the  antagonism  between  the  new  and  the  old 
was  exactly  between  the  covenant  of  works  made 
with  Adam  in  Eden,  and  that  made  in  and  with 
Christ    after  the   failure   of  that   first  arrangement- 


36  THE  TWO  COVENANTS. 

So  that,  upon  each,  three  or  four  things  need  to  be 
noticed  particularly. 

First  :  You  will  observe  that  the  New  Testament 
nowhere,  from  first  to  last,  refers  to  that  Edenic 
transaction  as  a  covenant  of  zuorks,  in  opposition  to 
the  Gospel  or  the  covenant  of  grace.  The  reference 
by  the  New  Testament  is  to  the  Mosaic  order  of 
things,  to  the  Sinaitic  code,  to  the  whole  economy 
of  Jewish  life  and  nationality  and  polity,  extant 
prior  to  the  advent  of  Christ.  The  contrast  between 
the  new  and  the  old,  is  between  Christ  and  Moses, 
and  not  between  Christ  and  Adam.  Read  the  New 
Testament  and  you  will  find  it  so.  And  on  that 
ground  Paul's  reasoning  stands  firm,  whether  in  He- 
brews or  Galatians,  in  Colossians,  Corinthians,  Ro- 
mans, or  other  epistles.  He  tried  to  lift  Jewish  faith 
and  life  from  the  old  adjustment,  namely,  the  cere- 
monial, into  the  new  as  enunciated  in  Christ.  That 
is  the  whole  push  and  pull  of  the  argument  of  Paul 
in  these  grand  epistles.  He  would  have  them  take 
the  new  in  Christ,  instead  of  the  old  in  Moses,  or 
Israel,  or  David,  replacing  the  whole  Jewish  nation- 
ality, theocracy,  monarchy,  polity,  and  all.  They 
wax  old,  but  this  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever. 

Mighty  hints  of  logic  in  these  casual  words,  whose 
latent  fire,  by  implication,  consumes  all  the  cobwebs 
and  rubbish  that  have  tangled  the  minds  of  men 
from  the  beginning  until  now. 

Secondly  :  The  real  truth  about  the  new  covenant, 
or  the  covenant  of  grace,  is  exactly  this :  It  was  or- 


THE  XE IV  EVOLVED  FROM  THE  OLD.  37 

darned,  in  the  Christ  of  God,  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  It  is  that  covenant  which  unfoldeth  the 
eternal  purpose  of  God  that  was  hidden  beneath  the 
ages  as  a  mystery  so  long,  and  which,  in  the  latter 
days,  and  in  the  fuhiess  of  time,  came  out  into  mani- 
festation to  the  world.  The  covenant  of  grace  was 
the  original  covenant;  not  made  after  the  failure  of 
the  Edenic  transaction,  but  existing  prior  to  its  in- 
auguration ;  existing  prior  to  the  creation  of  man ; 
in  the  great  language  of  the  inspired  epistles,  or- 
dained from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  in  the 
beginning,  from  the  old  eternity. 

The  third  thing  to  notice  is  that  the  Edenic  trans- 
action itself,  instead  of  being  in  antagonism  to  this 
original  covenant  of  grace,  is  concurrent  therewith ; 
instead  of  militating  against  it,  is  necessarily  expos- 
itory thereof.  The  truth  is,  that  early  transaction  is 
a  part  of  the  great  connected  whole ;  one  link  in  the 
unbroken  chain  of  the  development  of  God,  ordained 
in  the  Christhood  of  God,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
infinite  nature.  So  that  Adam  and  Abraham,  and 
the  whole  Davidic  line,  to  the  grand  and  mournful 
catastrophe  of  the  Jewish  polity,  are  so  many  links 
of  that  unbroken  chain  ;  so  many  acts  on  the  stage 
of  time,  one  after  another,  through  which  the  one 
original  drama  of  the  grace  covenant  is  evolved  and 
brought  forward. 

In  the  fourth  place,  notice  why,  the  truth  being 
thus,  this  eternal  covenant  is  called  the  "new  cov- 
enant."    It  is,  in  fact,  older  than  all  others.     Why 
call  it  the  new  one  :      For  the  same  reason  that  any 
4 

8  5  5  0  1 


38  1  HI     TWO  I  OVA  .Y.I.YTS. 

ttews  is  called  new.  The  good  news  which  the 
angels  proclaimed  was  ukl  as  eternity,  but  new  in 
time;  not  heard  of  before;  a  novelty  freshly  divulged; 
t  just  become  patent  God  has  spoken  what 
lie  thought  in  silence  from  all  eternity,  and  that  is 
the  news;  never  heard  of  in  time  before.  This  is 
the  revelation  of  the  mystery  hidden  beneath  the 
ages,  of  Ephesians  an  1  Colossians,  called  new  for 
the  above  reason  ;  new  in  the  order  of  time;  old  in 
the  order  of  things. 

>me  now  to  notice,  more  particularly,  the  idea 
and  meaning  of  the  word  covenant  itself.  This  cov- 
enant that  God  made,  was  it  of  the  nature  of  a  con- 
tract, after  all  ?  of  a  bargain  ?  of  an  agreement  ?  It 
takes  two  parties  for  that;  and  in  all  such  cases  each 
party  has  its  right,  has  its  option.  Either  party  is 
competent  to  suggest,  consent,  concur,  withdraw,  or 
object.  Each  party  is  voluntarily  bound.  There  is 
no  compulsion  about  it.  There  can  be  no  right  or 
validity  in  a  contract  where  tyranny  imposes  it;  it  is 
despotism,  it  is  wrongness  ;  it  is  not  a  covenant. 

The  idea  of  covenant  in  the  text,  if  not  this  —  and 
I  submit  that  it  is  not,  and  cannot  be  such  ;  God  did 
not  offer  it  as  a  party  to  a  commercial  transaction 
with  Adam  or  the  world  —  if  not  this,  I  say,  what 
then  ?  I  reply  it  was  the  divine  offer,  the  divine 
plan,  the  divine  scheme  propounded  by  God  himself 
alone  with  relation  to  man,  unfolding  his  wisdom  in 
that  relation,  setting  forth  his  love  in  that  relation, 
and  also  his  power.  It  was  the  grand  scheme  which 
God  threw  at  the  feet  of  man,  holding  in  itself  what 


MEANING  OF  MEDIATOR.  39 

He  proposed  to  do  for  man,  and  how  He  proposed 
to  exalt  him  and  perfect  him,  and  make  him  a  child 
of  the  new  world ;  to  make  him  eligible  to  a  peerage 
in  his  new  and  spiritual  dominion.  This  is  the 
mighty  plan.  I  am  thy  Father;  I  am  thy  protector; 
I  am  thy  provider;  says  God.  This  is  what  I  pro- 
pose to  do  for  you,  and  in  you,  and  through  you. 
The  contract  was  made  zvith  Himself ;  it  was  his 
own  voluntary  proposition,  without  consultation  aside 
from  Himself;  God's  offer,  God's  plan  of  making 
man  what  He  would  have  man  to  be. 

Having  thus  spoken  of  the  covenants  in  their 
relation  to  each  other,  and  as  to  their  grounds,  let 
us  now  take  up  the  idea  of  Mediator — Jesus  the 
"  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant."  What  does  this 
mean  ?  What  idea  does  the  word  convey  ?  It  is 
almost  inextricably  interwoven  with  the  thought 
and  association  of  Christendom,  that  the  Mediator 
of  the  New  Testament  is  one  standing  between  two 
belligerent  parties,  having  in  hand  the  great  matter 
of  their  quarrel, —  his  mediatorship  being  exclusively 
to  secure  peace,  negotiate  a  reconciliation.  The 
mediatorship  of  Christ  is  limited  to  that,  and  Chris- 
tendom predicates  nothing  else  of  its  function.  But 
is  this  correct  ?  What  does  this  word  mean  ?  What 
is  the  idea  conveyed?  Forget,  if  you  can,  all  historic 
associations ;  drop  all  the  glasses  through  which 
you  have  looked  at  the  word,  and  come  at  once  to 
its  meaning.     What  is  it  ? 

When  the  Government  of  the  United  States  sends 
a  plenipotentiary  to  England,  or  Berlin,  or  Vienna, 


40  THE   TWO  COVENANTS. 

does  that  mean,  necessarily,  that  the  two  nations  are 
at  war?  and  that  the  high  official  had  not  been  sent 
save  as  there  had  been  this  hostile  condition  of 
things?  We  send  ministers  in  times  of  peace,  do 
we  not?  And  there  are  thousands  and  thousands 
of  interests  to  be  handled  by  that  mediatorship,  that 
have  nothing  to  do  with  quarrels.  A  merchant  sends 
his  agent  throughout  the  land;  docs  that  imply- 
that  the  commercial  interests  of  the  country  are  in 
civil  strife,  and  all  this  agent  has  to  do  is  to  make 
peace  and  reconciliation?  And  unless  it  is  so,  does  it 
follow  that  the  word  negotiator,  or  mediatorship,  has 
no  meaning?  Does  it  follow  that  the  landlord  and  his 
tenant  on  noble  acres,  are  in  a  deadly  feud  simply 
because  the  former  sends  his  factor  to  collect 
rents  of  the  latter  ?  They  may  be  lifelong  and  loving 
friends,  and  the  factor  have  nothing  to  do  but  with 
their  friendship.  Does  it  follow  that  every  shop- 
keeper in  Milwaukee  is  simply  a  pacific  negotiator 
between  the  consumer  and  the  producer,  because 
there  is  a  quarrel  between  them?  Are  father  and 
children  at  variance,  because  he  employs  a  tutor  to 
teach  and  correct  them  ?  There  may  indeed  be  con- 
flicting interests  in  all  the  relations  supposed  ;  there 
may  be  hostilities  ;  -these  may  be  deadly  in  their 
alienations,  or  they  may  not.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  the  condition  be  a  hostile  one  in  order  that  we 
come  to  the  idea  of  mediator. 

Christ  was  an  internuncius,  an  official,  a  functionary, 
I  submit,  between  the  heart  of  God  and  his  children. 
In  the  first  place  you  see  at  a  mere  glance,  if  you  are 


GOD  HIMSELF  THE  MEDIATOR.  4 1 

reflecting  men  or  women,  how  impossible  it  is  for 
the  Absolute  and  Infinite  to  hold  any  intercourse 
with  the  finite,  except  through  a  medium,  or  by 
mediatorship.  You  see  at  once  it  is  not  necessary 
to  assume  a  quarrel  between  God  the  Father  and  his 
children.  Why,  Himself  is  the  grand  mediator  after 
all.  He  mediates  between  the  hunger  and  bread  of 
every  child — the  grand  commissary,  or  mediatorial 
provider,  not  for  wrath  or  hate's  sake,  but  for  love's 
sake.  You  see  that  this  office  was  not  ordained 
lately,  but  was  ancient  as  God  ;  was  included  in  his 
purpose  and  beneficence  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  Indeed,  it  was  the  very  matter  of  the  original 
covenant  of  grace,  and  there  never  zuas  any  other  cov- 
enant of  grace.  We  were  created  into  it.  The  stars 
awoke  their  bright  beholding  in  the  arms  of  it,  and 
all  creation,  and  all  things  that  are  made  in  any  way 
are  made  in  the  interest  of  it ;  and  without  the  inter- 
est of  this  mediatorship  nothing  is  made  that  is  made 
You  see  that  it  never  has  been  superseded  —  never. 
//  is  the  original  policy  of  the  original  government  of 
God,  laid  down  when  He  ordained  it.  You  perceive 
that  this  line  of  purpose  has  never  been  departed  from, 
from  first  to  last.  Every  time  the  curtain  has  been 
lifted  of  the  theatre  of  Providence,  in  eternity  or  time, 
it  has.disclosed  some  new  act  of  this  unbroken  line  of 
mediatorship.  God  is  executing  that  purpose  now. 
It  was  enunciated  by  Christ  more  grandly  than  by 
any  other  man.  It  was  whispered  in  the  promise  of 
Eden  ;  it  was  typified  in  the  figure  of  Noah  ;  it  was 
divulged  in  the  transaction  with  Abraham  ;  it  was 
4* 


42  THE    TWO  COVl  S'ANl 

adumbrated  beneath  all  the  types  and  shadows  of 

Judaism  ;  till  at  last  it  came  forth  in  full  articulate 
utterance  in  the  sublime  Word  —  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh.  The  grand  Logos  of  the  Alexandrian  was 
taken  up  by  John  to  speak  forth  this  grander  contin- 
uity of  the  heavenly  manifestations.  1  lere  you  have 
the  seed-thought  of  the  Lord,  or  Immanuel,  "  God 
with  us,"  down  here  in  the  low  intermediate  state  be- 
tf  en  the  Infinite  and  the  finite  ;  between  the  Abso- 
lute and  the  relative;  between  God  and  man;  here 
working  to  work  man  up  from  his  low  primal  state, 
to  the  high  consummate  finish  of  the  hereafter. 

Now,  do  wc  not  know  that  nothing  is  more  diffi- 
cult than  for  men  to  broaden  and  lengthen  and  deepen 
their  ideas  of  things?  And  it  is  more  difficult  in 
religion  than  anything  else,  because  there  is  a  sort 
of  sacred  bias,  a  sort  of  conscientious  thrall  about  it. 
But  from  stage  to  stage,  life  must  broaden  its  think- 
ing, must  expand  its  ideas  ;  and  it  must  be  able  to 
leave  the  old  stations  and  emigrate  out  of  them  into 
new  worlds  of  light  and  glory,  or  the  world  will  die. 
Confine  the  bird  inside  the  shell  because  it  began 
there,  and  the  thing  will  die.  Imprison  the  callow 
brood  in  the  primitive  nest,  and  it  will  never  have 
wing-power,  but  will  die.  You  must  emigrate,  how- 
ever sacred  may  be  the  cradle  in  which  you  were  first 
rocked.  You  must  leave  the  old  places  where  your 
faith  was  first  warmed  to  bud  and  bloom,  and  the 
very  bloom  itself  must  fall  off,  or  no  fruit  will  set. 

We  know  how  averse  men  arc  in  their  Christian 
thinking,  to  any  revision  of  their  ideas.     I  don't  ex- 


OUR  FAITH  NEEDS  REVISION.  43 

pect  to  dislodge  from  your  minds  this  morning  —  I 
shall  scarcely  begin  to  —  the  old  set  and  stereotyped 
idea  of  two  covenants,  one  to  make  up  for  the  de- 
ficiencies of  the  other;  as  if  one  half  of  the  exchequer 
of  God  at  last  had  to  be  expended  to  repair  some 
trouble  that  He  had  not  foresight  to  provide  for  in 
the  beginning.  I  don't  expect  to  dislodge  this  ;  and 
I  will  add  that  it  may  not  be  wisest,  voluntarily,  even 
to  open  the  eyes  suddenly  to  the  sun,  bright  and 
beauteous  as  it  is.  Nature  herself  has  taught  us 
lessons  here.  Out  of  midnight,  gentle  dawn  comes 
with  gentle,  velvet  fingers,  to  touch  the  eyelids  and 
gradually  fret  the  organ  of  vision  into  confidence 
enough  to  awake  and  behold  the  light  and  live.  We 
could  not  see  God  and  live,  we  are  told.  We  may 
be  injured  by  the  violence  of  a  sudden  flash  of  truth, 
some  of  us  not  having  looked  that  way  or  gotten 
the  habit  of  it.  Men  don't  want  to  re-examine  their 
faith.  They  don't  want  the  trouble  of  it.  They  are 
conscientious  a  great  many  times ;  they  think  it  was 
once  right,  and  what  is  once  right  is  always  right. 
Ah!  Is  it?  Once  an  egg  always  an  egg?  Once  a 
mud-hut  always  a  mud-hut  ?  Because  that  was  the 
first  habitation  of  civilization,  must  it  always  be  ? 
We  must  re-examine  our  faith  or  die.  Old  Judaism 
said  she  would  not  re-examine;  and  she  stuck  to  the 
promise  until  about  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago,  and  so 
she  was  a  vagabond  in  the  world.  Old  priestcraft 
and  old  priest-ridden  Europe  said  they  would  not 
re-examine  their  faith.  When  Luther  sounded  his 
trumpet-blast,  the  infallible   Mother  held  on  to  the 


44  THE   TWO  COVEN  Wis. 

unrevised;  and  now  her  gouty  feel  and  clumsy  li 
like  a  fugitive,  are  seeking  some  shelter  and  rest  for 
her  last  waning  days. 

O,  those  noble  Beraeans  !  1  l<>w  much  better  than 
most  of  us,  who  examined  even  the  word  of  God 
itself!  and  they  did  it  daily,  to  see  "whether  tli 
things  were  so."  Who  have  examined  these  two 
covenants  to  see  whether  they  are  so?  But  they 
are  not  the  Word  of  God ;  they  are  but  the  sayings 
of  men. 

What  would  you  think  of  a  man  who  should  say, 
"  I  prefer  to  take  passage  on  a  ship  constructed  by 
some  former  generation  ;  I  prefer  to  cross  the  At- 
lantic in  that,  rather  than  risk  your  new  ones."  What 
would  you  think  of  it?  Why  there  is  not  a  ship, 
however  staunchly  built,  sailing  out  of  New  York- 
harbor,  that  is  not  subject  to  re-examination  every 
time  she  casts  off  for  a  new  voyage.  If  this  were 
not  so,  would  you  be  underwriter  ?  Would  you  be 
consigner  to  any  such  custody  as  that?  Would  you 
be  passenger?  The  children  of  this  world  are  wiser 
than  the  so-called  children  of  light.  All  the  under- 
writers in  the  world  could  not  make  strong  the  worm- 
eaten  and  rotten  keel  and  ribs  and  sheathing  of  a  craft 
built  sixteen  generations  ago.  It  was  sound  as  God's 
thought  then  ;  constructed  by  the  best  skill  on  earth 
then  ;  navigated  by  the  latest  and  most  approved 
charts.  But  would  you  think  of  consigning  a  cargo 
to  Liverpool,  one  of  you  —  or  any  other  man  with 
his  eyes  open  —  if  you  knew  that  the  ship  would 
be  navigated  by  a  chart  a  thousand  years  old? 


THE  OBVIOUS  DICTATE  OF  WISDOM.  45 

In  your  faith  you  are  shipping  not  only  for 
England  but  for  eternity ;  not  only  a  few  paltry 
dollars'  worth,  but  the  worth  of  your  soul,  in  a  craft 
that  you  refuse  even  to  re-examine.  Are  you  and  I  to 
stand  up  and  challenge  the  faith  of  the  whole  world, 
or  endorse  a  policy  which  says,  "  Unless  you  give 
your  faith  to  what  was  laid  down  in  past  ages  of  the 
world,  I  will  confiscate  your  property,  I  will  stretch 
you  upon  inquisitorial  racks,  I  will  hand  you  over  to 
the  fagot  ?  "  Are  we  ready  to  do  that,  and  yet  refuse 
an  examination  of  our  propositions  ?  It  is  no  sign 
of  an  intelligent  Christian  to  do  this;  and  thousands 
upon  thousands  would  sooner  go  down  in  the  old 
craft,  where  they  are  comfortably  nested  in  their 
berth,  than  take  the  trouble  to  reship.  Not  that 
they  would  put  it  in  that  way,  but  that  is  what  it  is. 

The  Westminster  divines,  from  whom  I  have 
quoted,  met  in  1648  —  in  the  17th  century.  They 
were  appointed  as  a  commission  by  the  Parliament, 
not  by  God,  or  God's  spirit,  or  any  college  of  apostles, 
but  by  the  civil  power,  without  inspiration  or  infalli- 
bility, -to  get  together  some  sort  of  codification  to 
compose  the  distracted  thought  of  the  time.  They 
met.  They  were  good  pious  men  ;  good  men  as  ever 
lived  before  them;  good  men  as  have  lived  since. 
They  did  their  work  as  well  as  they  could.  And  yet 
that  assembly  was  divided.  There  were  hot  discus- 
sions, and  the  things  that  they  carried  were  carried 
by  a  mere  majority,  with  strong  protest  against  them. 
And  yet  what  they  did,  has  constituted  the  Protestant 
spectacles  through  which  the  Bible  has  been  looked 


46  THE    TWO  COVENANTS. 

at  ever  since  It  is  by  their  refracting  power  that 
the  unity  of  God  has  1,  olved  into  this  double 

covenant  ;  and  the  view  has  been  perpetuated. 
Those  divines  were  not  God's  infallible  agents,  but 
the  agents  of  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain. 

During  the  session  of  the  late  (Ecumenical  Council 
at  Rome,  we  laughed  to  scorn  the  idea  of  infallibility 
voted  upon  a  mortal  by  an  assembly  of  mortals  as 
imperfect  as  himself;  and  even  at  that,  so  divided 
that  their  vote  was  carried  against  a  very  strong  mi- 
nority. We  remember  how  the  most  intelligent 
Bishops  in  that  convention  were  opposed  to  that 
barefaced  dogma.  The  brain  of  Germany  was  op- 
posed to  it,  just  as  the  heart  of  France  favored  it. 
And  yet  we  stand  here  to-day,  voting  infallibility  to 
the  British  Parliament  of  two  hundred  years  ago, 
where  they  had  no  better  agreement  in  their  Council 
than  there  was  at  Rome  the  other  day.  Men  had 
rather  be  let  alone,  a  great  many  times,  than  take  the 
trouble  to  be  made  better.  They  had  rather  have 
ease,  and  comfort,  and  spontaneous  rest,  than  to  take 
the  trouble  and  responsibility,  and  industry  enough, 
to  be  better.  They  will  accept  anything,  many  times, 
rather  than  be  at  the  trouble  of  doing  anything  that 
looks  like  improvement,  or  of  doing  and  being  any- 
thing different. 

The  truth  is,  God  from  the  very  beginning  of  cre- 
ation, and  as  far  back  as  we  can  go  in  our  conception, 
beyond  creation,  has  been  translating  and  manifesting 
Himself.  The  first  rough  draught  was  thrown  off  in 
creation  itself,  in  symbols,  in  signs,  in  flashing  glories, 


GOD   IS  NOT  DONE    YET.  47 

and  mystic  hieroglyphics;  and  the  world  could  hardly 
decipher  them.  It  looked  and  saw  men  and  God  in 
the  fantastic  dream  of  waking.  The  dream  was  some- 
times of  glory  and  sometimes  of  gloom.  Even  then, 
in  the  darkness,  there  was  a  skilful  mixing  of  color 
that  was  going  to  paint  daylight  on  the  coming  sky. 

Then  again  God  threw  out  a  better  translation  of 
Himself  in  the  making  of  man.  And  all  along 
through  providence,  He  has  dropped  the  curtain 
and  translated,  and  then  lifted  it  and  thrown  out  the 
translation  to  be  studied  and  read  of  men ;  and  so 
from  symbol  into  figure,  and  from  figure  into  event, 
He  has  come ;  until  at  last  He  spoke  articulate  in 
his  own  Word  made  flesh,  and  the  world  knew  Him. 
And  now  if  we  don't  read  even  while  running — nay, 
though  fools,  it  is  because  we  love  darkness  rather 
than  light. 

God  is  not  done  yet.  Finer  and  more  literal  trans- 
lations of  Himself  are  to  be  rendered  in  coming  time. 
As  long  as  our  race  shall  live,  God  will  have  some- 
thing more  to  give  out;  and  it  will  be  all  in  the  line 
of  this  original,  unbroken  purpose,  which  is  the  cov- 
enant of  grace. 

Have  no  misgivings,  therefore,  friends;  no  mis- 
giving as  to  faith,  as  to  truth.  Stand  to  the  covenant 
which  says,  "Before  Abraham  was  I  am."  Wonder- 
ful allies  are  coming  out  of  the  darkness  into  light, 
and  offering  their  enlistment  in  this  work  of  faith. 
Let  us  not  tarry  around  the  old  tents,  the  old  camp- 
fires.  Strike  the  tents,  and  let  the  camp-fires  wane ; 
and  advance,  for  God  is  our  Leader. 


48  THE   TWO  COX  A  VANTS. 

Men  have  failed  in  all  ages  and  under  all  religions, 
and  will  continue  to  fail.  Every  man  is  an  Adam 
over  again;  not  because  Adam  was  his  master,  but 
disc  he  is  a  man. 

Whenever,  O  soul,  you  sit  in  disaster  —  sit  in  tears  ; 
whenever  you  feel  broken  with  the  weight  of  things, 
understand  you  are  sitting  at  the  feet  of  wisdom. 
Failures  arc  teachers ;  and  by  the  light  of  their  wis- 
dom you  re-illumine  your  torch.  There  is  no  hap- 
hazard in  the  covenant  plan  ;  it  is  straight  and  con- 
nected. We  feel,  indeed,  that  we  are  disimparadiscd 
at  first.  But  every  mortal  is  thus  set  into  a  new 
path,  whose  everlasting  paradise  is  at  the  other  end. 

The  Fathers  gave  you  and  me  faith  founded  on 
cloister  life;  but  we  must  get  out  of  that  into  the 
broad  live  world,  where  the  heart  tugs  and  toils; 
where  patience  kindles  the  fires  of  Tirtue;  where 
character  is  crowned  or  discrowned,  and  the  new 
manhood  gets  its  rough  hewing.  The  broad  world 
of  living  humanity  is  the  theatre  of  Christly  devel- 
opment. Thither  go  forth,  says  God  the  Father, 
and  achieve.  There  build  your  great  convictions  ; 
there  make  the  true  confession.  In  life  is  Immanuel, 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever. 

Do  you  not  know  that  the  newest  things  are  al- 
ways the  oldest?  Do  you  not  know  that  the  first  is 
always  the  last?  The  eternal  covenant  there  is 
called  new,  because  it  was  the  old  one  not  heard  of 
before.     Time  is  but  the  manifestation  of  eternity. 

When  the  reaper  shall  put  his  sickle  into  the  last 
harvest,  it  will  be  to  gather  the  fruitage  of  the   first 


THE    TWO    COVENANTS  REALLY  ONE.  49 

planting.  When  we  shall  be  in  the  blaze  and  bloom 
of  Paradise  above,  that  Paradise  will  be  but  the  ex- 
ecuted covenant  ordained  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world. 

Accept,  then,  this  bond  of  unbroken  continuity, 
this  linked  chain  of  grace  and  purpose  from  first  to 
last.  Grasp  this  unity  of  faith  and  knowledge  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  so  keep  the  original  covenant  of 
life.  It  is  one  and  full,  spanning  the  ages,  covering 
all  human  vicissitude,  threading  together  all  finite 
phenomena,  till  the  last  link  in  time  joins  on  to  the 
first  in  eternity.  Write  this  one  covenant  in  your 
faith ;  make  it  the  law  of  your  life,  and  execute  it  in 
your  character;  then,  nor  life,  nor  death,  nor  temp- 
tation, nor  disaster,  shall  separate  you  from  the  Love 
that  ordained  it  from  the  beginning. 
5  D 


III. 

THE  ME  THOD  <  >/■  REVEL.  1  77<  >.Y. 

He  that  built  nil  things  is  Gal.  —  Heb.  iii.  4 
before  all  things. — Col.  i.  17. 

SO  there  was  gravitation  before  apples  fell  or 
orchards  grew.  There  was  electricity  before 
there  were  thunderbolts  or  telegraphs.  There  was 
art  long  anterior  to  artists;  religion  long  before 
there  were  any  saints  or  sinners.  Before  Abraham 
was,  Christ  is;  and  prior  to  all  revelations  He  was 
and  is  God  forever. 

Last  Sunday,  by  a  rearward  course  of  thought,  we 
followed  back  Christianity  from  scattered  hints  to  a 
connected  whole,  founded  in  the  nature  of  things, 
even  in  God  Himself.  This  morning,  by  a  reverse 
order  of  thought,  we  wish  to  begin  with  God,  and 
follow  Him  out  and  forward,  along  the  ways  of  self- 
manifestation,  unfolding,  or  revelation.  Then,  we 
went  from  the  branches  back  to  the  root ;  now,  we 
would  becjin  at  the  root  and  work  toward  the 
branches.  Then,  we  passed  from  the  finite  to  the 
Infinite;  now,  we  would  go  from  the  Infinite  to  the 
finite.  At  that  time  we  went  up  from  diversity  into 
unity;  to-day  we  would  go  down  from  unity  into 
diversity.  Last  Sabbath  we  felt  our  way  back  from 
man  to  God;  to-day  we  would  feel  our  way  from 
God  to  man. 

50 


FIRST  REVELATION   OF   GOD.  5  I 

And  here  you  must  let  me  assume  the  existence 
of  God  without  proving  it;  for  your  patience  would 
find  fault  with  me  for  two  things  if  I  should  attempt 
the  proof.  First,  for  mixing  up  matters  that  should 
be  kept  separate  in  the  handling;  and  secondly,  for 
taxing  you  for  long  hours  beyond  the  terms  of  all 
stipulation.  So  the  validation  of  the  existence  of 
God  in  the  human  mind,  will  give  us  opportunity  for 
another  discourse.  God,  then,  exists.  Coiled  up 
in  Him,  if  we  may  use  such  human  language,  lies  all 
that  ever  did  or  will  come  out  of  Him.  Enfolded  in 
God  lay  the  universe,  providence,  and  redemption, 
as  an  oak  lies  folded  in  an  acorn — the  germ  ;  that  is, 
order,  intelligence,  purpose,  love,  as  they  stand 
stated  in  all  these  external  expressions,  inhere  in 
God,  natively.  The  grand  scheme  into  which  those 
few  hints  last  Sunday  guided  us,  validated  ultimately 
in  the  nature  of  things — the  nature  of  God  Himself — 
slept  in  his  being  from  eternity. 

The  final  scheme,  I  say.  Now,  from  that  point  let 
us  think  a  little  outward,  saying  everything  that  can 
be  said  in  forty-five  minutes — or  sixty,  if  accidentally 
I  should  touch  the  latter.  Beginning  at  the  God 
point,  let  us  think  toward  time  and  man. 

The  first  conception  that  we  have  of  the  manifesta- 
tion of  God,  or  the  revelation  of  Him,  comes  from 
Creation.  His  works — Nature,  the  declarative  glory 
of  the  heavens,  the  mute,  mystic  ciphers  in  the  deep 
earth,  are  the  works  of  God  as  much  as  this  Book. 
Everything  that  God  has  manifested  of  his  own 
thought,  love,  and  will,  is  revelation  thus  far  and 
therein. 


52  METHOD  OF  REVELATh 

The  next  conception  after  creation,  tint  we  have 
of  the  manifestation  of  God,  is  in  law,  government, 

rule;  or,  in  one  word,  history— ox  Providence,  if  you 
like  it  better.  For  there  we  perceive  not  only  intel- 
ligence, not  only  order,  not  only  the  enunciation  of 
some  previous  design,  but%we  behold  a  grand  con- 
nected course  of  things.  It  is  a  chain  with  no  lack- 
ing links.  History,  as  men  have  come  to  understand 
it,  and  accept  it,  and  handle  it,  is  a  growth  from 
some  primal  conception  vital  through  the  ages, 
through  the  race,  on  to  the  end  of  the  race,  out  of  sight. 
That  is  another  revelation,  another  grand  book,  as 
really  as  this  Book  is  a  revelation ;  not  specifically  the 
same  thing,  but  in  the  same  unbroken  interest. 

The  next  conception  we  have  of  this  unfolding  of 
God's  purposes,  thoughts  and  designs,  we  get  in  man 
himself — in  his  nature,  his  soul.  Here  we  come  to 
the  dim  outline  of  the  original  as  we  get  it  nowhere 
else.  Here  we  touch  the  personal  manifestation  of 
God.  Here  revelations  begin  to  be  conscious.  Old 
nature  is  not  conscious  ;  man  is  conscious — outlining 
the  Maker  and  the  Father  dimly  in  prophecy,  in 
history.  When  we  come  to  the  end  of  this  matter 
of  man,  the  design  as  in  him,  the  purpose  for  which 
he  was  created  as  a  manifestation  or  revelation  of  God, 
it  will  be  just  as  if  a  man  should  look  into  a  looking- 
glass  ;  or  rather  as  if  God  himself  had  at  last  bur- 
nished a  bright  plate  that  would  glance  back  his  own 
fice.  So  that  here  we  pick  up  the  grand  old  ideas  of 
Providence,  of  creation,  of  redemption.  These  three 
are  one,  just  as  the  links  in  a  chain  make  one.     They 


FIRST  REVELATION'S  PICTORIAL.  53 

are  one  in  origin,  one  in  end,  one  in  administration — 
one  revelation  of  God. 

There  are  two  great  determining  instincts  in  the 
world  —  call  them  institutions  if  you  like  it  better, 
any  name  that  will  mean  the  thing  best  to  you.  But 
we  say  here,  there  are  two  great  determining  in- 
stincts animating  the  world  :  one  is  the  instinct  of 
self ;  the  other  is  the  instinct  of  something  higlio 
than  self,  outside  of  self  and  beyond.  One  is  you,  is 
me  ;  the  other  is  God.  These  are  not  deductions ; 
they  are  not  inductions  ;  they  are  self-affirmative ; 
they  are  perpe-tually  emphasizing  self-assertions. 
The  first  selfhood,  or  self-consciousness,  roots  in  the 
second,  or  in  God.  The  second,  or  the  instinct  o( 
God  himself,  is  manifested  in  the  first.  You  root  in 
the  Divine  nature;  the  Divine  nature  blossoms  in 
you.  These  two  reciprocal  vitalities,  these  two  great 
primal,  correlate  functions,  make  creation,  make  his- 
tory, make  redemption.  Creation,  providence,  re- 
demption, get  their  interpreting  key-thought  out  of 
these  two  instincts. 

Now,  it  is  to  be  observed,  in  noticing  the  law  of 
revelation  and  manifestation  of  God,  in  the  first 
place,  that  all  early  conceptions  of  religion  by  the 
human  race  —  all  early  manifestations  of  God  or 
revelations  to  the  world,  are  metaphorical,  not  logical 
after  the  fashion  of  modern  sermons  ;  but  metaphori- 
cal, symbolical,  highly  figurative,  emblematic,  para- 
bolic ;  great  pictures  adapted  exactly,  you  perceive, 
to  the  early  and  crude  state  of  our  race  —  that  is,  its 
childhood  state. 
5* 


54  ME  7 //OP  OF  RE  1 7  /  .  /  /'/(  W. 

What  do  you  do,  parents,  with  your  children  the 
first  years  of  their  lives?  Do  you  not  give  them 
playthings,  play  with  them,  talk  high  wisdom  in  the 
language  of  nonsense,  forge  and  fashion  and  link 
syllogisms  in  terms  of  beautiful  illusions?  Don't 
you  suppose  God  is  as  wise  as  you  arc  ?  By  and  by, 
when  they  become  men,  they  will  not  go  back  to 
their  playthings  to  complete  the  superstructure  of 
their  manhood.  You  go  back  there  for  the  instinct 
that  prophesied  your  coming;  and  if  you  find  that,  it 
will  be  a  clue  to  the  divine  wisdom  that  ordained  it, 
as  well  as  to  yourself. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  a  law  of  revelation  to  go 
higher  and  higher,  each  manifestation  of  God  being 
in  advance  of  the  preceding  one.  After  nature,  his- 
tory;  after  history,  humanity.  Or,  to  handle  our 
thought  on  the  form  of  historic  religions,  first,  Feti- 
chism;  the  lowest  kind  of  religion  —  a  religion  that 
makes  a  god  of  a  stick  or  a  worm,  calling  it  Him,  a 
Being,  a  Power.  After  that,  Polytheism  ;  a  higher 
range  of  thought,  a  broader,  truer  conception  ;  for 
while  there  be  many  gods  under  this,  the  idea  of 
Divinity  is  very  different  in  Polytheism  from  what  it 
is  in  Fetichism.  After  Polytheism,  Monotheism. 
Here  the  mind  gathers  out  of  broken  diversity,  unity  ; 
and  here  it  comes  not  only  to  one  God  instead  of  a 
million,  unifying  and  catching  the  pulse  of  the  grand 
harmony  of  things,  but  Spirituality  begins  to  work  as 
a  force  in  the  percipient  mind,  —  thus  higher  and 
higher.     We  cannot  tarry  longer  on  these  points. 

But   in   the  third   place,  the   law  of  Revelation  is 


REVELATIONS  TO  BE  STUDIED.  55 

such  that  God  gives  himself,  reveals  himself  to  the 
world  just  as  fast  as  the  world  can  bear  Him.  Why, 
even  here,  late  as  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  He  said  : 
"  I  have  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot 
bear  them  now."  You  cannot  understand  now,  but 
by  and  by  you  shall  understand  them.  And  this 
higher  preparation  consists  in  your  interior  subjective 
development;  in  the  opening  of  your  eyes ;  in  the  un- 
stopping of  the  ears  of  your  soul ;  in  the  waking  of 
your  reason;  in  the  quickening  of  your  conscience; 
in  the  development  and  maturing  of  your  whole  in- 
ward being. 

In  the  fourth  place,  God  gives  every  revelation 
that  He  makes  in  such  a  way  as  to  compel  study.  He 
gives  himself  in  the  hint  form,  in  the  figure  form,  in 
the  symbolic,  in  the  parabolic  form  ;  in  such  a  way 
that  you  are  obliged  to  seek,  and  to  seek  with  all 
your  heart — heart  meaning  the  whole  man — if  you 
find.  God  did  not  propose  to  raise  up  a  race  of 
sloths  or  sluggards  or  moral  sponges,  making  it  a 
virtue  that  they  have  not  dishonored  God  by  doing 
anything  themselves.  That  is  not  the  way  of  his 
wisdom ;  but  dig  for  the  hidden  treasure ;  toil  night 
in  and  out,  and  day  in  and  out,  without  ceasing. 
"  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,"  said  the  Master  in 
the  very  law.  And  revelations  are  given  not  only 
so  as  to  compel  study  and  search,  but  they  are  not 
given  in  any  infallible  form,  as  if  to  save  man  from 
the  possibility  of  making  a  mistake.  He  can  mis- 
take, and  will  mistake  if  he  is  not  up  to  time  in  his 
duty.     Thus  the  law  of  Revelation  is  such  as  to  cul- 


56  METHOD  OF  Rl  VEL  l/7<>\: 

tivate  the  sense  of  responsibility,  cultivate  the  moral 
nature  as  well  as  the  intellectual. 

In  the  fifth  pi. tec,  it  is  a  law  of  Revelation  that  the 
scale  of  its  advance  shall  be,  if  you  let  mc  use  the 
word — and  the  sooner  we  learn  it  the  better — cos- 
mical.  I  like  to  sec  an  idea  condensed  into  one 
word,  instead  of  being  spread  over  a  hundred.  It  is 
the  law  of  Revelation,  then,  that  this  scale  of  advance 
shall  be  cosmic al ;  I  mean  that  it  shall  be  in  fraternal 
sympathy  with  the  great  heart  of  all  things,  the 
great  divine  fellowship  of  all  God's  thinking  and 
purposing  in  creation,  in  providence,  in  redemption. 
The  matter  of  Revelation,  my  friends,  this  matter 
of  religion,  is  not  one  you  can  take  up  between  thumb 
and  finger,  a  mere  patch,  sterile  at  that,  detached 
from  some  corner  of  your  <  xistence.  The  scale  of 
advance,  higher  and  higher  —  higher  and  higher  — 
must  be  the  scale  of  the  universe,  breaking  faith  at 
no  spot  with  aught  in  God's  great  scheme. 

And  in  the  last  place  it  is  a  law  of  revelation  that 
its  benefits  shall  be  cumulative ;  that  is,  hold  all  you 
get,  and  get  all  you  can  —  not  rest  upon  any  single 
possession  or  conquest,  but  making  all  the  base 
from  which  to  push  out  still  further  aggressions  — 
hold  it  as  so  much  to  which  a  great  deal  more  is  to 
be  perpetually  added.  And  thus  we  think  of  Reve- 
lation and  its  laws. 

Now  here  we  strike  the  great  law  of  progress. 
Many  a  mind  has  caught  that  idea  already.  The 
law  of  progress  !  What  is  that  ?  Nothing  but  the 
law  of  the  nature  of  things.     Note  how  this  is  asserted 


THE  LAW  OF  PROGRESS  ASSERTED.  $? 

in  science.  Science  tells  us  that  the  world  was  created 
progressively.  Some  men,  in  attempting  to  get  hold 
of  the  cosmogony  of  the  Hebrews,  tell  us  that  at 
first  there  was  nothing  but  mist,  nebulae;  and  then 
out  of  that  grew,  progressively,  order,  stars,  worlds, 
until  there  came  to  be  the  solid  fact  which  we  have 
now  in  the  heavens.  No  matter  what  theory  may 
prove  true  at  last,  we  are  not  at  the  last  yet ;  the 
grand  primary  truth  will  stand,  that  science  asserts 
this  great  fact  that  God  has  manifested  himself  in 
creation  progressively. 

History  asserts  the  same  thing.  It  does  it  in  the 
fact  that  history  is  a  growth  from  a  seed  started,  so 
to  speak,  from  a  germ,  and  carried  on  to  the  devel- 
opment and  unfolding  of  its  life  more  and  more 
diversely,  branching  and  rising  towards  maturity. 
This  law  of  progress  is  asserted  in  all  the  religions 
of  the  world — the  whole  of  them.  I  instanced  the 
lowest,  and  then  the  next  highest,  and  then  the  next, 
and  so  on  to  the  end.  Even  the  Old  Testament 
from  first  to  last  shows  this  ascending  scale,  reveals 
this  law  of  progress.  God  does  not  talk  to  the 
world,  in  the  opening  chapters  of  Genesis,  as  He 
talks  in  the  time  of  Moses,  as  He  talks  in  the  time 
of  the  Kings,  as  He  speaks  in  the  old  Prophets,  and 
in  the  old  Poets  and  Philosophers.  An  ascension — 
a  grand  growth  of  utterance  appears;  also  an  assumed 
developed  capacity  in  the  world  to  hear.  And  when 
you  go  out  of  the  Old  Testament  into  the  New,  and 
the  New  into  the  Old,  the  New  stands  as  much 
higher  than  the  Old  as  Monotheism  stood  higher 


58  METHOD  OF  Rl  17: /.I  WO. V. 

than  Polytheism  —  as  a  man  stands  higher  in  his 
work  in  life  than  the  child  with  its  playthings.  Jt 
docs  not  follow  that  the  Old  Testament  enunciates 

the  New,  aii)r  more  than  the  man  enunciates  the 
child,  or  the  child  the  man.  The  question  is, 
whether  we  see  it ;  if  we  do,  wc  can  talk  about  it;  if 
not,  better  talk  about  something  else. 

And  now,  right  here  is  where  we  should  be  wise. 
Because  there  is  a  law  of  progress,  the  world  of 
religious  thought  is  greatly  stirred.  Old  things  are 
passing  away  that  were  once  thought  sacred  to  the 
heart,  like  the  early  drapery  of  children  and  their 
wooden  horses  —  grand  and  divine  so  long  as  child- 
hood lasted.  But  the  world  is  nearer  manhood  than 
ever  before ;  and  in  the  ages  to  come  it  will  be  vastly 
nearer  than  it  is  now.  What  I  am  saying  is,  that 
the  very  stirring  of  thought,  recasting  of  thought, 
not  only  in  religion  but  in  all  things  to-day,  is  born 
out  of  this  everlasting  law  of  progress,  which  is  the 
law  of  God's  manifestation  of  himself  in  the  world. 
The  great  stress  of  the  mind  to-day  touching  religion 
is,  to  see  how  religion  may  be  grounded  in  the  nature 
of  things;  how  faith  may  take  the  hand  of  reason 
and  go  down  to  this  everlasting  solitude,  over  which 
phenomena  may  drift  forever  and  ever  without  dis- 
turbing it.  So  that  this  law  of  revelation,  being  the 
law  of  progress  you  perceive,  teaches  that  institutions 
are  good  until  the}-  are  outgrown  ;  and  after  they 
are  outgrown  they  arc  just  as  bad  for  the  world  as  a 
child's  clothing  is  for  a  man,  or  his  playthings  for 
the  implements  of  mature  industry.    The  same  law  of 


VITAL  CONNECTION  OF  THINGS.  59 

divine  revelation  tells  us  also  that  we  have  no  occa- 
sion to  fear  science ;  that  science  is  no  disturber  of 
real,  everlasting  religion.  It  tells  us  that  science  is 
a  form,  one  of  the  chapters  of  the  whole  revelation 
of  God. 

This  law  tells  us  also,  when  we  go  back,  when  we 
make  our  pilgrimage  rearward,  we  don't  go  to  get 
/onus,  we  don't  go  to  the  tribunal  of  phenomena  for 
authority.  We  go  back  for  essences.  We  go  for 
that  which  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever ; 
for  the  root,  the  seed ;  the  divine,  not  the  human  ; 
for  the  eternal ;  the  immutable,  not  the  changeable. 
Then  it  is  beautiful  to  go  back.  But  the  same  law 
of  revelation  tells  us,  also,  when  we  cast  a  glance 
ahead,  it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  cutting  clear  of  the 
present  or  the  past;  it  is  for  the  sake  of  the  better 
enunciation  of  all  that  was  true  and  abiding  in  the 
past;  for  the  sake  of  the  more  practical  handling  of 
all  that  we  have  on  hand  to-day.  God  is  not  a  wild 
license  in  Himself,  in  his  laws,  in  his  methods.  He 
is  orderly.  He  is  conservative  as  He  is  radical,  and 
radical  as  He  is  conservative.  Things  hold  together 
forever  and  ever.  Things  are  vital  forever  and  ever, 
for  God  is  not  a  great  automaton.  Therefore  He  is 
radical ;  therefore  He  is  conservative.  Thus  we  find 
God  always  in  the  world.  He  never  went  out  of  the 
world.  In  all  places,  not  only  in  the  height  and  in 
the  depth,  but  here  on  the  lip,  in  the  heart,  He  is, 
if  we  have  the  discernment  to  find  Him. 

There  is  a  theory  of  the  world  called  the  mechani- 
cal theory,  the  purport  of  which  is,  that  God  made 


60  ME  l!h  •/>  ( '/■  RE  1 7. V..  /  T/OX. 

the  world  as  a  grand  system  of  law  and  order  and 
power,  wound  it  up,  and  then  left  it  to  run  itself. 
There  is  no  life  in  it.  It  is  a  dead  machine.  It  g 
as  well  without  God  as  with  Him;  and  the  theory- 
was  devised  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  necessity  of  a 
God.  Now,  that  is  not  the  Christian  idea.  The 
Christian  idea  is,  that  God  not  only  created  the 
world,  but  that  He  is  putting  forth  the  selfsame  exer- 
tion eternally  which  originated  it.  In  Him  the  world 
not  only  began,  but  constantly  lives,  and  moves,  and 
has  its  being.  God  is  creating  now  as  well  as  at 
first,  and  will  be ;  otherwise,  this  created  finite  per- 
petuity of  things  would  relapse  into  non-existence. 
We  sec,  also,  that  every  age  has  its  particular  lesson 
given  it  to  learn  ;  and  we  see  likewise,  that  each  age 
can  learn  its  own  lesson.  Every  time,  every  period, 
every  section  in  Providence,  is  like  a  recital  in  a 
school.  The  lesson  to  be  got  is  mastered,  and 
the  end  to  be  found  out  is  God,  so  much  of  God  as 
is  manifested  at  the  time.  It  can  be  done ;  and 
hence  it  is  that  God  does  not  condemn  one  age  for 
not  conforming  to  another.  The  old  Hebrews  were 
not  to  be  condemned  because  they  were  not  Chris- 
tians after  the  manner  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John.  And  the  New  Testament  men  are  not  to  be 
condemned  because  they  do  not  conform  to  the 
standard  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  any  other  religion. 
Each  age  must  be  true  to  the  lesson  set  for  it  and  in 
it.  God  demands  that,  and  has  made  it  possible.  Be 
true  to  your  life-hour,  O  soul ;  and  the  greatest  and 
the  grandest  can  do   no   better.     Time   is  one  long 


THE  END  IS  NOT  YET.  6i 

revelation  space,  one  long  self-declarative  scope  of 
God,  one  grand  manifestation  of  Him  in  work,  in 
providence,  in  love ;  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  You 
cannot  find  a  book  in  history  or  theology  that  limits 
time,  creation,  love,  revelation,  and  the  manifestation 
of  God.  There  is  no  such  book  but  a  foolish  one. 
It  is  impossible  in  the  nature  of  things.  The"  end  is 
not  yet. 

In  the  light  of  such  thoughts,  we  see  plainly  that 
if  a  man  wishes  to  validate  what  he  believes,  if  he 
wishes  for  a  foundation  to  erect  his  faith  on,  he  must 
not  seek  it  in  the  human  element  of  revelation.  He 
must  not  seek  it  in  the  phenomenal  element,  but  in  the 
essential  element.  He  must  not  seek  it  in  the  mate- 
rial of  history,  but  he  must  seek  it  in  that  which 
makes  history.  So  I  am  not  disturbed,  as  I  before 
hinted,  when  the  critics  come  and  tear  this  Book  all 
to  pieces.  So  far  as  my  faith  is  concerned,  it  matters 
not  whether  the  Book  exists  or  not,  as  to  the  essence 
of  things.  The  critic  may  find  faults  and  flaws  in 
history  on  the  assumption  that  history  is  logic.  He 
may  find  the  same  fault  with  the  Bible,  with  the  pic- 
torial, figurative,  childlike  playthings  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, that  the  mathematician  found  in  Paradise 
Lost.  He  said  he  could  not  see,  for  his  life,  what  it 
proved.  It  did  not  prove  anything,  because  it  was  a 
poem  ;  not  a  syllogism,  but  an  inspiration  blossom- 
ing out  with  ideas,  and  with  revelations  too  pro- 
foundly deep  for  the  handling  of  logic  and  dialectic 
limitation.  If  you  wish  to  validate  your  faith,  don't 
go  back  to  any  form  of  words  or  facts  that  any  man 


62  ME  THOD  •'/■  RE  1 7  LAI  /<  W. 

has  brought  into  existence,  that  any  body  of  men 
have  voted.  If  VOU  want  to  make  a  creed  for  the 
whole  world,  wait  until  the  evidence  is  all  in.  You 
had  better  put  that  work  off  until  you  get  into  the  light 
above.  A  creed  is  a  verdict  predicated  upon  all  the 
evidence  pertaining  to  the  case,  or  else  it  is  a  false 
one.  The  God  instinct,  as  well  as  the  self-instinct, 
has  always  been  in  the  world,  and  always  will  be ; 
and  you  must  provide  for  it  if  you  are  a  philosopher, 
a  thinker,  a  believer. 

Look  at  Christianity  then.  Just  here,  let  us  ask 
ourselves  what  claim  Christianity  has,  after  all,  over 
and  above  any  other  religion.  If  God  is  revealed  in 
every  chapter  of  providence,  what  is  the  pre-eminence 
here?  What  claim,  let  us  ask,  has  the  curriculum 
for  the  university,  devised  by  the  best  scholars  of  the 
world,  over  the  curriculum  for  the  nursery,  or  the 
preparatory  school,  or  the  public  schools  in  the 
various  wards  ?     The  claim  of  fitness,  evidently. 

Just  look  at  Christianity  and  mankind,  and  see 
how  it  fits  as  no  other  religion  does.  When  a  man 
looks  into  this  mirror,  he  sees  his  face  with  its  wrin- 
kles, blotches  and  all,  as  no  mirror  ever  flashed  him 
back  to  himself.  See  the  elements  of  universality  in 
( Christianity,  which  you  find  nowhere  else.  If  God 
is  developing  one  connected  scheme,  we  should  infer, 
from  the  mere  necessities  of  reason,  that  a  religion 
pertaining  thereto  must  include  the  elements  of  uni- 
versality. Christianity  assumes  to  fill  all  places  and 
all  conditions  and  all  fashions  of  human  life  and 
character.     Then  take  the  ethical  principles  of  Chris- 


SUPERIOR  CLAIMS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  63 

tianity.  We  find  them  validated  in  the  nature  of 
things.  They  do  not  rest  on  phenomena.  Histories 
that  talked  about  them  and  revealed  them  may 
perish  ;  yet  the  ideas  and  the  great  principles  will 
stand,  because  they  are  rooted  in  the  nature  of  things, 
and  back  finally  in  God.  «* 

The  Christian  religion  gives  us,  in  addition  to  a 
purer  morality,  a  truer  culture  than  any  other  reli- 
gion. This  is  a  grand  thing.  It  assumes  to  handle 
men's  nature,  develop  its  undeveloped  powers,  mend 
its  broken  possibilities,  and  reconstruct  the  grand 
whole  as  no  other  religion  assumes  to  do.  And 
then,  finally,  it  has  in  it  the  transcendental  element. 
I  mean  it  assumes  to  hold  things  by  some  power 
that  transcends  this  life.  Time,  nature,  all  things 
seem  holding  over,  linking  man  to  immortality. 
That  is  its  transcendental  element.  No  other  reli- 
gion has  this  as  the  Christian  religion  has. 

Now  you  will  please  take  notice  that,  for  any  man 
to  leave  that  which  is  better  for  that  which  is  worse, 
proves  him  not  a  sensible  man;  shows  him  a  bad 
thinker,  not  a  true  philosopher.  He  is  not  even  a 
respectable  scientist.  You  will  notice  again,  to  leave 
the  better  for  the  poorer,  the  higher  for  the  lower,  is 
to  leave  the  living  God  and  go  back  to  the  dead  God. 
I  mean  to  the  mortuary  records  —  to  the  footprints  — 
back  to  those  old  forms  and  conditions  out  of  which 
life  has  come.  All  true  thinkers  determine  their 
thought  in  the  last  and  best  things.  God  -in  time 
and  providence  reserves  to  the  last  in  form  that 
which  is  first   always   in  conception.     In  truth,  the 


64  ME  '/'//<  >D  OF  RE  I  'ELA  TION. 

Alpha  and  Omega  arc  one  in  nature  and  design. 
White  the  Alpha  becomes  a  husk,  an  autumn-leaf 
rotting  and  perishing,  the  Omega  waxes  strong,  and 
towers  and  sings  in  triumph  towards  higher  asser- 
tions and  expressions. 

There  are  several  things  that  need  to  be  empha- 
sized just  here,  as  coming  from  the  train  of  thought 
we  have  pursued. 

First,  O  soul,  never  throw  away  what  you  have, 
poor  as  it  is,  until  you  can  get  something  better;  and 
remember  that  the  better  is  not  to  come  from  that 
which  God  has  left  behind,  but  from  that  which  He 
has  yet  to  give  the  world.  Keep  your  faith  awake, 
looking  toward  the  East  whence  light  arises. 

Secondly,  If  you  seek  to  do  such  work,  never 
ground  your  faith  on  phenomena,  but  in  the  nature 
of  things. 

In  the  third  place,  keep  your  religion  in  high  sym- 
pathy, as  I  said  a  little  back,  with  the  whole  universe. 
Treat  your  religion  as  if  it  were  a  legitimate  child  of 
the  Father's  House,  not  a  foundling  by  the  way. 
Treat  it  as  if  it  were  a  brother  to  every  truth  in  the 
great  family  of  truth  ;  as  if  it  were  kin  and  kindred, 
having  the  very  life-blood  of  the  whole.  Keep  your 
religion  warm  in  such  sympathy,  and  you  may  de- 
pend upon  it,  it  will  grow  —  it  will  thrive. 

Again,  in  the  fourth  place,  be  true  to  the  law  of 
correlation.  What  do  I  mean  by  the  law  of  correla- 
tion ?  The  law  that  tells  you  if  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  the  eye,  there  is  something  for  the  eye  to  see;  the 
law  that  tells  you  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as  hunger, 


THE  LAW  OF  CORRELATION.  65 

there  is  sucli  a  thing  as  bread.  Be  true  to  this  law, 
or  you  are  wrecked.  Men  get  into  trouble  here. 
They  say,  sometimes,  all  we  need  to  know  is  inside 
of  us.  All  there  is,  is  "consciousness."  They  might 
as  well  say,  All  there  is  of  the  bird  is  his  wings,  no 
need  of  air;  all  there  is  of  the  fish  is  his  fins,  no  need 
of  the  sea ;  all  there  is  of  man  is  his  stomach,  no 
need  of  bread.  Be  true  to  the  law  of  correlation. 
What  avails  it  for  a  man  to  say,  I  do  not  see  light, 
if  he  has  a  blind  eye  ?  What  avails  it  for  a  man  to 
say,  I  am  poor  and  have  nothing,  therefore  there  are 
no  riches  in  the  world?  Don't  be  so  foolish  as  to 
say,  because  your  purse  happens  to  be  empty,  there 
is  no  .such  a  thing  as  gold  in  existence.  You  are  a 
purse  in  yourself.  You  may  be  empty,  indeed,  but 
you  were  made  for  something.  Be  true  to  the  law  of 
correlation,  and  it  will  guide  you  through  the  storm — 
through  all  revelations.  It  will  hold  you  to  God  as 
the  anchor  holds  the    ship  tossed  on  the  waves. 

In  the  fifth  place,  rate  every  man  for  what  he  is 
worth,  and  conclude  that  he  is  worth  just  so  much 
as  he  conquers  in  these  grand  lessons  which  God 
sets  him  to  learn.  Just  so  far  as  he  conquers  these 
by  search,  by  reverence,  by  love,  and  by  the  use  of 
all  the  faculties  and  powers  within  him,  just  so  far  as 
he  comes  to  know  God  behind  all  revelations,  and 
takes  Him  into  his  diameter,  has  he  manly  worth  ; 
and  no  further. 

Now  a  great  many  may  ask,  what  is  the  use  of 

preaching  of  this  kind  ?     What  is  the  benefit  of  such 

sermons,  talking  of  philosophy,  talking  of  science, 
6*  E 


66  ME  T//OD  OF  K I  I  7  1 ,1  //<  < .  V. 

talking  of  ideas?  One  use  is,  it  keeps  the  brain 
alive  and  saves  US  from  the  scandal  that  a  man's 
brain  withers  and  decays  in  religion  as  nowhere  else. 
It  keeps  the  brain  alive;  it  keeps  the  man  awake,  at 
any  rate.  I  venture  to  say  every  one  who  has  fol- 
lowed closely  this  train  of  thought,  has  not  nodded 
once;  you  have  not  drowsed,  you  have  not  even  hung 
the  head  in  fatigue.  Familiarity  with  God  as  he  is 
revealed,  his  thinking  in  creation,  in  providence,  in 
our  history,  in  our  revelations,  his  great  sympathy 
in  the  world,  induces  infinite  wakefulness  and  stimu- 
lation in  his  creatures.  It  is  good  for  that  at  least. 
Then  these  are  the  matters  in  hand  to-day.  I  might 
bring  before  you  every  Sunday  what  was  decided  as 
essential  to  salvation  in  those  old  councils  fifteen 
hundred  years  ago,  which  the  (Ecumenical  Council 
at  Rome  has  recently  attempted  to  saddle  the  world 
with,  and  make  essential  to  salvation  for  the  next 
fifteen  hundred  years.  I  might  bring  these  things 
out  and  make  them  the  staple  of  my  preaching.  I 
don't  know  how  it  would  be  with  you,  but  a  great 
many  would  think  it  the  true  thing;  a  great  many 
would  not  agree  thereto. 

There  is  a  law  of  advance  in  religion,  even  in 
preaching.  Dogmas  and  institutions  are  good  until 
the  world  has  outgrown  them.  The  great  effort  of 
that  Council  was  to  anchor  the  nineteenth  century 
back  to  the  ninth  ;  to  send  the  world  backward,  not 
after  God,  but  after  man,  to  the  devices  which  he 
happened  to  think  of  God.  Now  to  handle  matters 
in  this  more  modern  way  is,  I  think,  to  meet  a  want 
of  the  times;  and  you  will  see  it  more  plainly  when 


THE  PULPIT  SHOULD  LEAD.  67 

I  give  the  next  reason,  viz  :  that  if  religion  does  not 
take  the  lead  in  interpreting  God  and  interpreting 
man,  something  else  will  take  the  lead.  If  the  pulpit 
and  the  pews  eject  the  nature  of  man  in  relation  to 
God  from  its  subjects,  and  refuse  their  handling  ad- 
mission, then  mark  this  :  The  platform  and  the  press 
and  the  academic  club  will  take  charge  of  the  matter 
and  lead  the  thought  of  the  world.  If  he  who  pre- 
tends to  believe  in  God,  and  draw  his  faith  from  God, 
is  not  able  to  show  a  reason  for  that,  and  how  all 
this  life  and  the  principles  of  the  universe  stand 
related  to  God,  somebody  else  will  show  a  life  and  a 
universe,  and  another  reason,  that  will  leave  God  out. 
And  religion,  as  we  now  profess  it,  will  just  have  to 
turn  antiquary  and  go  to  the  rear,  or  stand  as  a  wall- 
flower while  the  living  play  goes  on.  Such  are  rea- 
sons why  the  pulpit  should  do  its  own  work. 

The  priests  of  old,  you  remember,  asked  Galileo 
why  he  made  such  disturbance  in  the  world.  Are 
not  all  things  settled  ?  Were  they  not  settled  in 
that  council,  and  in  that  creed,  and  in  such  formu- 
laries ?  The  idea  that  this  whole  grand  scfieme  of 
worlds  somehow  or  other  is  related  to  God,  and  is 
singing  his  name,  shining  out  his  glory;  why,  you 
are  upsetting  all  the  theology  that  has  been  settled 
for  the  last  thousand  years,  said  the  priests  of  his 
day.  Nobody  else  said  it.  What  are  you  doing, 
said  the  theologist  only  a  generation  ago  —  certainly 
within  two  —  what  are  you  doing,  O,  geologist  ? 
You  go  down  into  the  earth  and  make  it  after  a  new 
fashion,  and  then  come  up  here  and  upset  Genesis, 
arraying  science   against   revelation.     Anxiety  was 


METHOD  OF  REVELATION. 

n.it  aware  thai  science  is  it  .If  .1  hook  of  revelation 
as  well  as  other  books.  But  what  is  the  upshot  of 
it  all?  Why,  all  Christendom  has  come  to  shake 
hands  with  Galileo;  and  all  Christendom  has  come 

to  shake  hands  with  geologists ;  while  there  are 
other  hands  still  to  be  shaken.  God  has  not  stopped. 
He  has  not  left  the  world.  He  is  not  done  telling 
what  he  thinks.  He  is  not  done  building  man, 
building  providence  in  the  world,  lie  is  at  work, 
and  ever  at  work. 

Take  heed,  O  Kings  and  ancient  Bishops.  Ask 
the  people  why  they  are  making  this  turmoil  ?  The 
people  will  answer:  There  is  a  law  of  progY 
which  is  the  law  of  God,  which  is  the  law  of  history, 
which  is  the  law  of  mind  ;  and  that  is  the  law  of 
motion  and  commotion.  The  old  past  is  always 
muttering  and  complaining  of  the  present,  and  much 
more  of  the  future;  while  the  grand  truth  is,  God 
ever  lives,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever, 
leaving  the  things  that  arc  done,  and  talking  Him- 
self out  into  the  things  that  are  before. 

Yes,  God  empanels  a  new  jury  in  every  generation. 
He  empanels  a  new  jury  in  even-  case  of  thought, 
of  truth,  of  faith,  to  be  tried.  It  is  not  within  the 
prerogative  of  the  old  verdicts  to  nullify  or  limit  the 
jurisdiction  of  to-day.  No :  God  is  not  done  re- 
vealing Himself  yet.  Let  us  be  true  to  the  lesson 
on  the  blackboard  for  the  recitation-hour.  Let  us 
give  ourselves  to  the  study-hour,  asking  most  of  all 
the  meaning  of  the  lesson  in  hand.  That  will  root 
us,  for  the  time,  in  God  and  in  his  Divine  methods; 
and  by  and  by,  when  1  [e  has  something  more  to  say 


REDEMPTION  LINKED   TO  CREATION.        69 

which  heart  has  not  conceived,  you  and  I  shall 
blossom  on  the  boughs  of  that  higher  expression. 
We  shall  sing  there  if  we  root  in  Him  instead  of 
rooting  in  man,  in  the  temporal,  in  the  human,  and 
in  the  perishable.  Books  shall  moulder  away,  and 
the  moth  shall  eat  the  very  Word  that  speaks  the 
high  Name.  Nature  shall  crumble,  time  shall  wane 
and  come  to  an  end  ;  but  God  shall  live,  sing,  and  be 
God  in  higher  manifestation  after  the  sun  has  ceased 
his  shining,  and  the  heavens  are  rolled  together  as  a 
scroll.  Happy  will  he  be  whose  thought,  renewed, 
quickened,  purified,  reconstructed  and  developed, 
shall  be  able  to  look  at  God  and  see  Him  face  to 
face,  as  now  he  sees  Him  only  in  part.  But  not  less 
happy  is  he  who  can  see  God  in  the  bright  light 
hour,  and  understand  Him  in  every  lesson  of  his  life 
set  for  him  to  learn. 

I  happened  to  take  up  a  book,  last  evening,  in  a 
book-store,  in  whose  opening  preface  I  read  this : 

"  The  work  of  creation  and  redemption  is  a  unit. 
The  purpose  of  God  in  creating  man  ran  through 
all  history  and  all  the  works  of  nature,  looking  to 
man  to  be  recreated  and  revitalized,  that  at  last  man 
himself  might  shine  in  the  very  image  of  God,  and 
sing  the  hidden  sweetness  of  his  heart." 

That  was  not  the  language,  but  that  was  the 
thought.  And  I  felt  cheered,  that  one  of  the 
leading  and  living  Christian  thinkers  of  the  hour 
flanked  the  leading  idea  of  my  last  fifteen  years' 
work.  I  took  it  as  a  solace,  not  as  a  boast.  And 
if  we  will  put  our  sensitive  fingers  upon  the  life  of 
public  thought  anywhere,  r/e  shall  feel  the  pulse  of 


70  Ml  THOD  of  RE  VI  I  ITIO.Y. 

this  truth  throbbing  as  a  leading  symptom.     I  pity 
nun  who  run  away  from  the  living  hour  and  oppor 
tunity  at  their  door,  and  think  tint  they  arc  doing 
pious  service  by  gnawing  at  the  old  bones  of  dead 
ideas  and  obsolete  expressions. 

Open  your  faith,  then,  broadly,  Christian  thinker 
and  Christian  believer.  Open  your  prayers  so 
broadly  that  they  shall  take  in  the  fragrance  and 
the  quick  inspiring  life  of  the  whole  summer  of 
God's  visitation  to  your  world.  God  is  coming, 
ever  has  been  coming,  ever  will  be  coming,  more 
and  more.  The  original  Name  hidden  in  Him,  "I 
am  He  who  shall  be,  the  coming  One,"  is  ever  true. 

We  have  touched  some  of  the  laws  of  God's 
manifestation  ;  we  have  hinted  at  the  grand  end ;  we 
have  pointed  at  the  great  lesson  of  duty.  Life  and 
the  universe  arc  not  atheistic.  God  lives  in  them, 
and  is  living  through  them  unto  you.  True  believer, 
your  soul  shall  be  the  grandest  revelation  of  God  at 
last.  It  shall  wear  a  crown  of  glory  bright  and  re- 
splendent, before  which  all  the  glory  of  God's  mani- 
festation in  time  shall  be  nothing  but  shadow. 

Follow  back  the  hints,  then,  wherever  you  can  ; 
gather  them  from  the  lips  of  the  Master,  from  the 
writings  of  the  Apostles,  from  old  Prophets,  from 
History,  from  Providence,  through  all  Creation ; 
gather  up  these  hints  and  trace  them  back,  back, 
back,  until  you  come  to  their  source.  And  then, 
having  touched  God  by  your  own  spirit,  let  that 
spirit  touch  and  quicken  yours.  So  shall  you,  glory- 
lit  in  the  splendor  beyond,  be  the  last,  final  word  that 
God  shall  speak  for  Himself. 


IV. 

THE  ONENESS  OF  RELIGION  AND    THE  RA  CE. 

He  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men 
for  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed, 
and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation.  —  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  xvii.  26. 

THIS  is  the  text  —  but  if  we  read  the  next  verse, 
we  shall  see  the  purpose  of  it,  namely :  "  that 
they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  happily  they  might  feel 
after  Him,  and  find  Him,  though  He  be  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us." 

Here  is  a  grand  and  graphic  statement  of  man  in 
his  relation  to  this  mundane  state  of  things.  The 
object  of  it  is  distinctly  hinted,  and  especially  the 
high  feasibility  of  the  attainment  of  that  object. 

It  seems  that  man  is  one,  from  God's  point  of 
view ;  one  in  nature,  one  in  design.  Man,  wherever 
he  is  individually,  is  man  universally,  in  the  consti- 
tution, in  the  capacity,  in  the  intent  of  his  being. 

But  equally  true  is  it  that  in  his  circumstances  he 
is  diverse;  his  habitation  is  appointed;  his  condition 
is  specific  and  ordained  in  the  very  scheme  of  his 
being.  Men  differ  on  the  ground  of  individuality,  in 
their  aptitude  and  specific  fitnesses;  differ  as  to  their 
geographic  relation,  origin  and  capacity.  They  are 
born  in  different  centuries;  dwell  under  different  cli- 
mates ;   contend  with  and  overcome  diverse  forces  ; 

7* 


72       ONENESS  OF  RELIGION  AND   THE  RACE. 

and  work  out  specifically,  and  instrumcntally,  diverse 
ends. 

But  as  man  is  one  in  his  nature,  and  as  religion  is 
a  birth  of  that  nature  on  the  human  side  of  the  ques- 
tion ;  —  I  once  before  said  that,  and  a  "single-eyed" 
man  went  and  reported  me  as  declaring  that  religion 
was  of  human  origin  entirely;  —  but  the  great  truth 
will  stand  and  bear  repeating,  nevertheless,  that  re- 
ligion, on  the  human  side  of  the  problem,  is  a  birth 
from  man's  nature,  an  inborn,  innate  necessity  of  his 
spiritual  being,  just  as  hunger  is  an  innate  necessity 
of  his  body;  —  since,  I  say,  man  is  one,  and  religion 
an  outbirth  of  his  nature,  why  is  not  religion  one? 

We  reply,  religion  is  one.  Notwithstanding,  ac- 
cording to  history  and  observation,  it  is  so  broken, 
diverse,  and  conflicting,  it  is  one  at  the  root.  When 
we  are  radical,  original,  human  and  divine  enough, 
we  touch  the  oneness  of  this  great  truth  in  human 
nature.     Let  us  handle  it  in  various  aspects. 

Imagine  —  and  there  is  no  violence  in  the  suppo- 
sition—  that  some  superhuman  intelligence  from 
another  bright  sphere  should  visit  this  earth,  and 
stand  in  the  presence  of  all  the  nations  made  of  one 
people,  and  begin  to  question  them.  Think  of  him 
as  first  addressing  them  thus  :  "Oye  nations,  men  of 
time,  do  ye  all  believe  in  man,  in  humanity?"  "Yea," 
is  the  quick  response,  "  we  all  so  believe."  But  the 
question  goes  on,  "Do  you  believe  in  religion?" 
And  the  murmur  goes  up  like  the  breaking  of  many 
waters:  "  We  all  believe  in  religion."  '  Yes,"  con- 
tinues the  interrogator,  "  but  have  you  all  sacred  books, 


QUESTIONS  OF  AN  ANGEL   VISITANT.  73 

have  you  all  Bibles,  have  you  all  Scriptures?"     "  In- 
deed we  have,"  answer  the  Hindoo,  the  Persian,  the 
Hebrew,  the  Christian,  and  the  rest.     "  You  say  that 
you  have  these,"  continues  this  inquirer ;  "  but  then 
I  ask,  have  you  all  revelations  from  a  higher  world  ?  " 
'Yea  and  Amen,"  is  the  quick  answer,  "we  all  claim 
to  have  revelations ;  that  is  the  way  our  books  come 
in  the  main."     But  closer  than  that  the  question  is 
put :  "  Do  all  ye,  who  have  your  religions  and  your 
books,   believe    in    the   Divine   inspiration  of   those 
books  ?  "       '  We    believe    in    nothing   else  ;    we  all 
claim  it,  and  it  is  set  down  in  the  books  themselves ; 
it  is  maintained  by  all  the  prophets  of  our  faith." 
"Possibly,"  says  the  visitant;  "but  have  you,  all  of 
you,  miracles?  do  you  all  believe  in  miracles?  have 
your  books  and  your  faith  been  tested  by  miracles?" 
"  In  every  case,"  is  the  prompt  reply.     "  You  have 
but  to  read  our  sacred  books  to  find  it  so  ;  there  is  no 
historic  religion  in  the  earth  that  does  not  claim  the 
validation    of   miracles."     "Oh,   indeed,"   continues 
the  questioning ;  "  but  is  it  a  common  faith  with  you 
all,  that  virtue  is  better  than  vice?   that  your  reli- 
gions have  a  bearing  upon  the  hope  of  some  better 
condition  of  your  humanity  by  and  by?"     "Even 
so,"  is  the  unanimous  answer  here. 

But  the  great  questioner  advances  :  "I  perceive  you 
all  agree  in  the  main;  are  all  of  one  mind,  one  faith, 
one  family;  brothers  all;  but  are  you  at  peace  with 
each  other?" 

Here  for  the  first  he  strikes  a  discord.     "  No,  no, 
great  visitor;  we  all  quarrel;  there  is  no  agreement 
7 


74  ONENESS  Of  RELIGION  AND   THE  RACE. 

whatever  between  us;  we  deny  each  other;  we  are 
in  antagonism  ;  we  excommunicate  each  other." 

Such  is  the  confession.  The  Mohammedan  looks 
upon  the  Christian  and  calls  him  "  infidel."  The 
Christian  looks  upon  the  Jew,  and  pronounces  him 
God's  outcast  wandering  in  the  earth.  The  Jew  de- 
nies the  Christian  faith,  believing  that  to  be  idolatry, 
the  last  profanation  in  Jewish  sensibility.  The  old 
1  lindoo  cannot  tally  with  the  Persian  ;  and  the  Egyp- 
tian breaks  faith  with  them  all.     And  so  they  differ. 

But  leave  everything  else  and  come  to  the  Bible 
alone;  how  there?  We  find  at  once  that  its  devotees 
are  broken  into  two  great  parties.  One  professes  to 
believe  the  Old  Testament  simply ;  the  other  takes 
both  the  Old  and  the  New,  and  they  fight  it  out  on 
that  line. 

If  now  we  drop  one-half  of  this  contention,  and 
come  simply  to  the  Christian  side,  we  find  that  also 
broken  into  two.  They  all  believe  in  the  same  Scrip- 
tures ;  in  the  same  miracles  ;  the  same  inspiration 
and  revelation;  but  yet  are  divided;  the  Catholic 
denying  the  Protestant;  the  Protestant  protesting 
through  and  through  against  the  Catholic. 

If,  however,  we  lop  off  one-half  of  this  antagonism, 
and  take  simply  the  Protestant  side  of  it,  where  we 
should  expect  homogeneity,  fraternal  sympathy,  if 
anywhere  —  what  do  we  find?  Infinite  diversity;  all 
broken  up  into  denominations,  sects,  cliques,  each 
striving  to  get  the  better  of  the  other.  One  denies 
what  the  other  asserts,  and  sometimes  because  the 
other  asserts  it.     And  thus  it  is  with  this  last  result. 


UNITY   WITH  DIVERSITY.  y$ 

By  this  time  the  angel  visitant  is  confused  and 
takes  his  leave,  meditating  upon  the  tangled  problem 
of  this  religious  conflict  between  the  children  born 
of  one  parentage. 

But  whence  this  conflict  ?  I  will  tell  you.  It 
comes  from  putting  the  accident  in  place  of  the  es- 
sence;  it  comes  from  treating  the  saw  and  hammer 
as  though  they  were  the  temple;  it  comes  from 
taking  the  sign  for  the  thing  signified  ;  from  putting 
the  circumstance  in  place  of  the  substance ;  man  in 
place  of  God. 

But  is  all  this  broken  diversity  useless,  or  worse 
than  useless  ?  By  no  means,  if  we  rightly  estimate 
it.  It  is  providential.  It  is  set  in  the  order  of  things 
by  Him  who  appointed  the  diversity  of  habitation 
and  endeavor  everywhere  apparent.  And  the  mo- 
ment the  world  comes  to  see  this  fact,  the  compati- 
bility of  unity  with  diversity,  one  spirit  with  endless 
administrations,  old  rigidities  begin  to  relax ;  asper- 
ities soften  ;  persecutions  and  anathemas  melt  away  ; 
men  break  their  exclusiveness,  and  thought  becomes 
genial  and  fraternal.  For  each  sees  in  every  other  a 
common  origin  and  design  ;  each  sees,  underlying 
the  whole,  the  grand  universal  principles  and  purposes 
struggling  for  dominion.  So  inspired  by  the  percep- 
tion of  these  are  the  contestants  now,  that  they  are 
ashamed  to  remember  their  old  bickerings,  though 
when  they  knew  nothing  else,  contention  was  their 
worship. 

The  moment  the  providential  intent  becomes  mani- 
fest, there  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  mind. 


;0  i  OF  RELIGION  AND   THE  /'./■ 

Just  look  abroad  upon  the  earth  and  see  how  religion 
has  been   necessitated  to  this  very  diversity.     No 

such  sacred  book  as  this  Bible  could  have  been  given 
to  the  whole  world  at  once  —  to  the  men  who  have 
other  sacred  books  ;  and  theirs  given  to  the  race  and 
age  of  the  world  that  asked  for  the  Bible,  would  have 
been  an  anachronism,  a  thing  out  of  time.      Revela- 
tion is  progressive,  and  adaptation  is  one  of  its  laws. 
The   moment   we   distinguish  between   the   circum- 
stantial and  passing  away,  and  the  substantial  and 
abiding,  old  interpretations  begin  to  fall  off,  giving 
place  to  broader  and  better  ones ;  some  things  in  the 
books  themselves,  that  we  have  considered  so  sacred 
and    so    essential,   are   destined    to   pass   away   like 
autumn-leaves  when  the  fruit  is  ripe.     The  provin- 
cialisms of  religion  come  to  an  end  in  the  growth  of 
the  world,  and  the  mind  and  heart  broaden  out  into 
great   cosmic  currents  and   orders   of   things.     T  he 
original,  fundamental,  underlying  ideas  and  purpi 
touching   man   in   connection  with   religion,   rise  to 
self  assertion,  and  are   glad  to  get  utterance  in  the 
faith  and  convictions  of  a  broader  intelligence.     The 
essentials  become  more  and  more,  and  the  non-cs- 
sentials  less  and  less.     The  diverse  sects  and  denom- 
inations, churches  and  creeds,  begin  to  open  their 
closed  doors  for  outlets  and  inlets,  permitting  them 
to  swing  both  ways.     Amplitude  of  faith  and  con- 
viction knock  down  the  old  partition  walls ;  there  is 
an  interchange  of  manhood  and  brotherhood  among 
the  children  and  nations  bearing  one  blood  and  one 
purpose.     The   underground   connections,   the  vital 


CHARACTER   THE   TRUE   TEST.  JJ 

telegraphs,  begin  to  exchange  messages  and  to  or- 
ganize. As  there  is  oneness  in  essence,  so  there 
comes  to  be  more  homogeneity  in  expression.  And 
the  world's  fight  grows  less  and  less. 

But  another  great  question  arises  in  the  handling 
of  these  matters.  Will  the  time  ever  come  when  all 
these  external  distinctions  and  diversities  shall  dis- 
appear never  to  be  heard  of  again  ?  No  :  that  time 
will  never  come ;  it  need  never  come.  But  this  is 
what  will  take  place  :  Men  will  cease  to  put  the  cir- 
cumstance for  the  essence,  the  letter  for  the  spirit ; 
they  will  put  things  in  the  right  places  and  call 
things  by  their  right  names.  Things  which  can  and 
should  fraternize  will  wax  stronger  and  stronger; 
while  the  elements  of  hostility  will  die  out.  The 
grand  diversity  will  be  increased  even  like  the  parts 
of  a  chorus,  making  the  harmony  richer;  but  the 
discords  will  drop  out.  Every  man  will  be  allowed 
to  sing  his  own  part,  play  his  own  instrument,  and 
wear  his  own  face,  without  being  excommunicated 
for  it.  Each  will  know  the  other  as  his  brother  by 
the  elements  of  brotherhood,  not  by  clothes  or  creed 
or  geographic  position.  Every  man  will  be  allowed 
to  have  his  own  interpretation,  and  for  that  reason 
will  not  think  of  denying  that  right  to  any  other 
man.  Possibly  they  may  both  be  true.  Fraternally 
they  may  stand  and  work  on  a  broader  foundation 
for  their  difference.  The  great,  universal,  primal 
principle  of  love  to  man  will  grow  mightier;  love 
to  God  will  assert  itself  with  more  powerful  sway; 
and  love  for  truth  because  it  is  truth,  will  surpass  all 
7* 


78        ONI  VESS  Oi    REL1GI0A     \ND    III!-.   RACE. 

other  passions.  The  universal  will  increase;  the  acci- 
dental decrease. 

Now,  what  men  want  in  this  world  just  at  this 
time,  is  to  know  each  other;  and  not  stand  fenced 
off  in  isolated  corners,  peeping  over  their  ramparts 
and  shooting  out  their  challenges  and  drawing  re- 
turn fires.  They  want  to  know  each  other  ;  exchange 
salutations;  look  each  other  in  the  eye;  look  inside 
of  each  other.  They  must  examine  the  old  family 
records;  inquire,  whence  is  my  neighbor?  why 
walled  off  there?  who  is  he?  whither  is  he  going? 
Then  the  mystic  etching  of  the  heraldic  device  will 
begin  to  blush  up,  revealing  the  old  common  an- 
cestry. Then  men  will  exclaim,  "  YVc  are  children 
of  one  Father,  after  all ;  we  have  no  right  thus  to  be 
Ishmaelitish  towards  each  other;  let  us  eat  and 
drink  and  be  friends  together." 

It  would  seem  that  our  own  nation  at  this  particu- 
lar time,  has  a  great  mission  to  perform  in  the  way 
of  God's  providential  usher  to  introduce  strangers  to 
each  other.  It  is  as  though  God,  through  us,  were 
holding  a  grand  reception,  sending  out  the  sum- 
mons to  the  ends  of  the  earth  :  "  Come,  all  ye  who 
are  of  a  common  origin,  come  bringing  your  faiths, 
your  books,  your  traditions,  your  humanity.  It  was 
a  wise  forethought,  which  I  always  regarded  as  a 
providential  inspiration,  that  the  founders  of  our  Gov- 
ernment excluded  all  religious  partiality  from  its 
Constitution  ;  made  no  distinction,  offered  no  favor- 
itism, but  gave  one  common  protection  to  every  faith 
under  the  sun.     I  hope  the  Government  may  never 


CATHOLICITY  OF  THOUGHT  INCREASING.       79 

swerve  from  that  policy.  The  Government  was  born 
at  the  bidding  of  those  fundamental  principles,  a  state- 
ment of  which  we  just  supposed  the  angelic  visitor 
to  evoke  from  mankind  ;  it  is  founded  on  them,  not 
on  the  circumstances  of  any  book,  or  creed,  or  mira- 
cle, or  anything  of  the  sort.  It  is  founded  on  man 
as  he  stands  related  essentially  to  his  fellow-man  and 
to  his  God.  Let  the  Government  stand  firm  right 
there.  Never  sign  a  petition,  friends,  that  it  may  vary 
from  that  purpose. 

True  catholicity  of  thought  is  abroad  in  the  world. 
The  nerve  of  intelligence  is  receiving  and  sending 
telegrams  every  hour  from  this  deep  underlying  net- 
work of  principles  and  ideas,  that  make  the  race  one. 
The  brain  leaps  and  the  heart  leaps  —  at  first  in  de- 
lirium, indeed,  and  there  will  be  commotion  until 
they  come  to  grand  balanced  sere/iity  and  power. 
The  nations  are  awakened  ;  the  tide-wave  of  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  earthquakes  is  rolling  under- 
neath, rocking  the  surface.  No  man  can  live  here- 
after, and  be  a  narrow,  stinted  bigot  in  the  world. 
The  very  remnants  of  the  nobility  of  thought  will 
hunt  him,  as  an  escaped  spectre,  back  to  his  den. 
No  brain  can  live  walled  up,  when  the  time  has  come 
for  the  wall  to  be  broken  down.  No  heart  can  ex- 
pand ,and  throb  with  noble  pulsations,  that  sticks  to 
its  flower-pot  economy  too  long.  Its  roots  want,  and 
must  have,  the  range  of  all  the  earth  for  truth  and 
life  and  nurture.  No  stinted  and  bigoted  sectarian 
has  a  mission  after  this,  save  as  a  kind  of  providen- 
tial whetstone  for  the  Damascus  edge  of  God's  truth 


So       ONI   VI        OF  RELIGION  AND   Tin.   RACE. 

and  spirit.  No  nation  can  live  a  mere  provincialism, 
walled  up,  set  off  by  itself.  Just  look  at  the  waking 
and  breaking  of  the  oldest  nations  on  the  earth. 
China  is  among  us;  Japan  is  coming;  India  is  on 
the  way;  and  out  of  Egypt  will  be  called  citizens 
and  sons  in  due  time. 

No  Church  has  any  call  or  any  mission  on  the 
earth  in  this  hour  of  the  world,  that  is  fixed  to  some 
old  creed,  or  dogma,  or  ecclesiasticism  of  some  self- 
constituted  censorship  or  conceited  primacy.  There 
is  no  infallibility  from  Pope  to  Puritan.  The  infalli- 
bility of  God  and  truth  you  and  I  are  to  acknowl- 
edge ;  feel  after,  if  haply  we  may  find  it;  while  to 
man's  usurpation  we  only  say,  Procul,  0  proad  este 
profani  ! 

I  often  think  there  is  more  breadth,  more  world- 
breadth  of  thought  outside  of  technical  religion  than 
inside;-  whereas  religion  should  hold  the  broadest 
thinking  in  the  universe,  because  its  main  element  is 
infinite.  What  is  the  secret  of  the  rejection  of  Chris- 
tianity on  the  part  of  a  great  many  finely-thinking, 
finely-mannered,  finely-lived  men  and  women  in  the 
world  ?  Why  do  they  stand  aloof  from  religion  ? 
Why  do  they  take  opposition  to  it  ?  For  its  own 
sake,  think  you?  and  because  of  those  fundamental 
principles  of  it,  which  the  angelic  visitant  evoked  ? 
Not  at  all.  Men  are  religious  by  nature.  These 
outsiders  drop  certain  interpretations  that  religious 
insiders  stick  to;  but  religion  itself  they  revere. 
Men  of  thought  refuse  allegiance  to  the  mere  acci- 
dents and  self-constituted   standards    of  hierarchies, 


POSSIBLE  CHURCH  OF  THE  FUTURE.  8 1 

sectarists,  and  dethroned  gods,  but  not  to  the  King 
of  kings. 

I  have  thought  sometimes  that  it  would  not  be 
the  strangest  thing  that  anticipation  foresees,  if  God 
in  his  providence  should  raise  up  a  Church  in  the 
future  that  shall  organize  Christianity  on  a  broader 
basis,  inclusive  of  all  the  grand  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  Providence,  Revelation  and  Creation.  And 
if  that  time  ever  does  come,  I  doubt  not  some  of  the 
profoundest  thinkers  and  believers  that  cannot  get 
inside  the  Christian  Church  of  to-day,  will  be  among 
the  priesthood  and  the  elect  of  that  new  order  of 
things.  If  that  time  ever  comes,  it  will  be  because 
a  broader  welcoming  of  truth  shall  have  sucked  out 
the  juices  of  the  old  schemes  and  policies,  leaving 
them  to  wither  like  dry  trees  on  the  mountains,  and 
building  a  new  living  kingdom  in  their  place. 

When  men  shot  that  magnificent  enterprise  across 

the  continent,  the  Pacific  railroad,  and  along  its  iron 

artery  fresh   blood   began   to   throb   and  thrill  from 

ocean  to  ocean,  the  old  shanties  by  its  side  that  the 

spademen  occupied  while  they  were  building  it,  were 

deserted  and  abandoned.     If  now  the  old  occupants 

had  concluded  to  insist  upon  it  that  those  huts  were 

still,  and  always  would  be,  the  great  centres  of  trade, 

they  would  have  made  the  common  mistake  of  many 

religionists.     After  that  highway  was   cast  up,  and 

the  continent  veined  by  a  new  life-channel,  nobody 

thought  of  entering  the   old   shanties   to   live,  save 

perhaps    marauders    and    speculators   on    their  own 

account,  or  some  hostile   Indian  or  other  enemy  of 

F 


82        ONENESS  (>/   RELIGION  AND    THE  RACE. 

the  road,  opposed  to  progress,  "squatting"  there  to 

put  obstructions  in  the  way.  There  is  many  a  town 
in  this  country  and  in  other  countries,  once  flourish- 
ing and  bidding  fair  to  be  the  leading  city  of  the 
region  in  which  it  rose,  but  simply  because  it  did 
not  fall  into  vital  connections  with  the  new  channels 
of  thrift,  has  shrunk  not  only  to  a  third-rate  position, 
but  has  been  left  to  wither  and  dry  up  altogether. 
There  can  be  no  great  city  hereafter  not  situated 
upon  a  railroad,  or  upon  a  great  river  channel,  or 
upon  some  ocean  shore.  There  must  be  cosmopolitan 
connections  kept  up,  or  there  can  be  no  development 
of  life. 

Now,  a  great  many  religious  denominations,  a 
great  many  churches,  are  just  like  these  old  towns 
and  shanties.  On  the  whole,  they  are  left.  New 
channels  of  truth  are  opened,  but  they  do  not  wel- 
come them.  Providential  highways  are  cast  up,  but 
they  are  not  careful  or  interested  enough  to  form 
connections  with  them.  The  train  goes  on,  and 
they  meditate  in  isolation,  decay  and  pass  away. 

Such  is  the  order  of  things.  It  ever  must  be  so. 
Highways  are  to  be  cast  up,  connecting  ocean  with 
ocean,  continent  with  continent,  nation  with  nation, 
in  thought,  in  religion,  and  in  civilization.  The  un- 
derground communications  must  be  rife  and  glowing 
with  vital  messages  ;  the  invisible  cords  and  nerves 
of  universal  principles  must  organize  the  world  anew, 
and  ever  be  making  it  new. 

A  great  question  arises  just  here :  Will  any  re- 
ligion ever  become  the  universal  religion?     It  is  like 


UNIVERSAL  PRINCIPLES.  83 

the  question  :  Will  any  language  or  any  government 
ever  become  universal  ? 

Doubtless  some  one  will.  But  yet  any  such  lan- 
guage will  have  its  dialects ;  any  such  government 
will  have  its  subordinate  municipalities ;  and  so  any 
such  religion,  its  distinctive  administrations.  Will 
the  Christian  religion  become  that  universal  religion, 
if  there  shall  at  last  prevail  such  an  one  ?  That  de- 
pends upon  this  principle,  viz.:  whether  the  Chris- 
tian religion  has  breadth  and  capacity  enough  to 
take  in  every  other  truth  of  every  other  religion  on 
earth.  If  its  channel  is  broad  and  deep  enough  to 
receive  and  welcome  every  true  affluent,  if  its  genius 
be  elastic  and  copious  enough,  it  will  lead  the  world; 
otherwise  not.  The  universal  principles  are  the  ones 
I  just  referred  to,  when  all  the  nations  are  assumed 
to  answer  back  to  the  heavens  —  Yea  and  amen,  we 
so  believe.  Lift  them  up,  enthrone  them ;  and  if 
Christianity  be  great  enough  to  include  and  wield 
them,  she  will  become  the  universal  religion  at  last. 

Will  the  English  language  ever  become  universal  ? 
She  is  copious  to-day,  wonderfully  so ;  and  her  bid 
stands  higher  this  hour  for  universality  than  that  of 
any  other.  But  only  as  she  has  life  and  elasticity 
and  catholicity  enough  to  welcome  and  handle  all 
the  exigencies  of  human  thought  and  sentiment  and 
human  necessity,  will  she  lead. 

Will  our  own  government,  or  any  government 
like  it,  prevail  at  last,  and  give  a  kind  of  oneness  to 
civil  administration  in  the  earth?  That  depends 
upon  the  same  principle.     If  it  be   broad   enough, 


84  ESS  OF  RELIGION  AND  THE  A'.i- 

if  it  have  capacity  enough,  if  it  have  sufficient  catho- 
licity to  welcome  the  whole  social  nature  and  neces- 
sities of  mankind,  then  it  will  lead.  If  not,  not.  Such 
principles  must  determine,  and  they  are  worthy  of  the 
thought  of  every  Christian  statesman  and  scholar. 

The  problem  of  religion,  then,  is  the  problem  of 
man  himself.  The  great  admonition  is,  enthrone 
the  fundamentals  at  the  beginning  so  that  they  shall 
become  universal  in  the  end.  Then  t>here  shall  steal 
upon  this  our  life,  peace  and  reconciliation  ;  the  alpha 
at  first  shall  become  the  omega  at  last. 

Then  shall  the  swords  be  beaten  into  plough- 
shares, and  the  spears  into  pruning-hooks.  The 
heart  and  brain  of  man  shall  come  to  the  great  rest- 
day,  where  work  shall  be  without  weariness,  and 
praise  without  price.  The  scattered  and  dispersed 
tribes  of  faith  and  humanity  shall  be  gathered  to- 
gether from  their  long  estrangements,  and  be  one  in 
the  earth — ^as  they  were  one  with  God  in  the  begin- 
ning. 

In  that  coming  day,  which  somehow  or  other  we 
all  believe  in  —  the  day  of  promise  foreseen  by  pro- 
phets, sung  by  all  the  bards  of  time,  the  day  of  the 
world's  jubilee  ;  in  that  day,  if  the  heralds  thereof 
shall  be  seen  to  have  been  in  the  dawn-blush  of  our 
faith,  in  the  day-star  that  hung  in  bright  apocalyptic 
vision,  then  indeed  are  we,  as  a  people,  walking  in 
dewy  pathways,  sacred  and  consecrated  to  Heaven. 
Well  does  it  become  us  to  exclaim,  What  maimer  of 
men  ought  we  to  be  ? 

May  the  fidelity  of  our  stewardship  be  equal  to  its 
greatness. 


V. 

IMITATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 

He  is  not  a  yeiv  who  is  one  outwardly  ;  but 
he  is  a  yew  who  is  one  inwardly.  — 
Romans  ii.  28,  29. 

THE  Jew,  who  is  one  outwardly,  is  a  Jew  of  pre- 
cedent and  pattern ;  he  is  a  copyist,  a  Jew  of 
imitation.  The  Jew,  who  is  one  inwardly,  is  a  Jew 
of  the  present  and  the  future;  he  is  a  Jew  of  develop- 
ment, of  progress.  There  is  an  external  Judaism 
and  an  internal  Judaism.  My  subject,  then,  this 
morning  is,  Imitation  and  Development. 

We  shall  aid  ourselves  by  attempting  to  clear  dis- 
tinctions. Imitation  is  external,  while  development 
is  internal.  The  first  is  mechanical  and  artificial ; 
the  second,  vital  and  original.  One,  you  perceive,  is 
strongly  and  emphatically  personal ;  the  other  is 
entirely  impersonal.  Imitation  is  substitution  for  a 
thing;  development  is  the  essential  thing  itself. 
One  is  a  shadow  ;  the  other  a  reality.  One  is  exactly 
the  man  himself;  the  other  the  circumstances  of  the 
man.     Thus  for  the  distinction. 

Now  we  see  all  things  best  in  the  light  of  perti- 
nent illustration.  Pass  then,  if  you  will,  at  anytime, 
into  a  thrifty  greenhouse  in  winter  or  summer  time. 
There  you  see  life  in  all  stages,  from  the  germ-seed 
to  the  floral  crown  and  the  finished  fruit.  There  is 
8  85 


86  IMITATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

development.  Beginning  internally,  unfolding  gradu- 
ally, progressively,  from  stage  to  stage,  all  that  was 
inward  at  first  becomes  externalized  in  manifestation 
at  last.  After  that,  step  into  a  factory  in  France  or 
elsewhere.  There  are  piles  of  satin,  piles  of  silk, 
piles  of  paint,  piles  of  wire,  various  kinds  of  material, 
various  kinds  of  skill  —  artistic,  educated  or  unedu- 
cated; and  the  great  business  there  is  to  make 
flowers  out  of  that  material,  to  make  plants;  to  imi- 
tate the  originals.     It  is  an  institution  of  imitation. 

Pass  into  some  of  the  great  temples  of  the  earth  ; 
they  are  covered  on  the  surface  with  great,  elaborate 
adornments  ;  various  colors  and  shades  greet  your 
vision.  It  is  fresco.  There  is  the  form  of  the  flower 
and  its  color;  there  is  the  cut  and  carved  column; 
there  is  the  double-grooved  cornice,  and  the  grace- 
fully sprung  arch  ;  and  nature  herself  seems  not  more 
articulate  when  she  is  speaking  than  this  similitude 
—  imitation  ;  marvellous  often.  And  after  you  have 
thus  gazed,  go  out  into  one  of  God's  forests.  There 
is  a  seed  seemingly  rotting  in  the  decay  and  mould 
of  ages  —  a  little  germ.  A  beam  of  light  bores  its 
way  through  the  branches  and  whispering  leaves, 
and  wakes  up  that  primal  germ.  It  develops ;  it 
unfolds  ;  it  organizes  a  knot  here  and  a  branch  there, 
in  the  trunk  and  in  the  growth  ;  and  by  and  by  the 
workman  takes  it  when  it  is  matured,  and  cuts  it,  and 
smooths  it,  and  covers  it  with  the  mysteries  of  polish. 
Then  you  see  the  living  grain  of  the  wood.  That  is 
what  nature  has  been  about  under  the  guidance  of 
her  own  inspired  genius.     It  is  development.     Follow, 


IL  L  US  TRA  TIONS.  8  J 

also,  the  architect  as  he  begins  taking  the  plan, 
which  is  nothing  but  paper  and  color,  and  see  how 
he  generates  the  cornice  and  the  capital ;  and  how 
he  creates  the  arch  and  the  column  and  the  artistic 
whole  in  your  presence,  of  that  pile  of  beauty  ;  and 
you  will  follow  the  development  of  the  primal  archi- 
tectural conception.  Here  you  have,  indeed,  develop- 
ment, as  at  the  first,  imitation. 

Sometimes  you  go  to  the  theatre  or  opera,  or  you 
attend  in  your  houses  dramatic  exhibitions.  You 
call  them  plays,  imitations  of  whatever  the  original 
matter  in  hand  may  be.  If  it  be  the  good  Samaritan, 
everything  is  done  that  means  that  marvellous  pic- 
ture. This  is  imitation.  And  after  you  have  wit- 
nessed it,  go  into  the  Orphans'  Home,  or  out  among 
the  wounded  and  dying  soldiers  —  there  is  the 
original  drama.  That,  in  its  terrible  unfolding,  in 
its  blood  and  tears  and  fire  of  passion  and  agony,  is 
development.  What  we  mean  by  development  is  the 
life-drama  in  all  the  acts  and  scenes. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  regiment  or  whole  army  on 
dress-parade  ?  The  equipments  were  all  polished 
and  glittering;  everything  was  in  taste  and  in  order; 
all  the  motions  exact.  The  dress  parade  is  imita- 
tion ;  a  make-believe  of  the  army  in  actual  duty  ;  a 
sham  fight,  it  may  be,  for  the  time  parodying  a  real 
fight.  But  if  you  want  development,  if  you  want  life 
in  its  struggles,  in  its  self-manifestation  and  self-exe- 
cution, go  out  upon  the  battle-field ;  go,  if  you  pos- 
sibly can,  back  to  old  Waterloo,  back  to  Marathon ; 
go  to  Sadowa,  to  Appomattox,  to  the  Wilderness. 
There  things  are  real  ;  no  imitation,  but  facts. 


88  IMITATION    \ND  DEVELOPMENT 

Children  love  to  imitate;  they  delight  in  play,  and 
you  love  to  see  them.     They  get  their  locomotivi  s 

and  their  train  connected,  and  they  play  railroad; 
the\-  play  school- keeping;  they  play  legislative  assem- 
blies ;  they  play  life.  That  is  imitation.  But  real  life, 
the  grand  evolving  problems  of  civilization  from  age 
to  age,  stage  to  stage  —  there  you  have  development ', 
because  there  you  have  life  in  its  unfolding  and  pro- 
gressive economy. 

So  that  anything  conventional,  anything  merely 
external,  may  be  termed  imitation;  while  life  itself, 
in  all  its  fortunes  and  phases  and  facts,  is  a  life  of 
development^  of  originality,  of  actuality.  One  is 
make-believe,  the  other  is  sober  fact;  one  is  man  as 
he  is,  the  other  is  man  as  to  circumstances. 

Now,  I  do  not  say  that  imitation  is  in  every  pos- 
sible sense  illegitimate.  It  has  its  sphere,  as  in 
childhood,  in  decorative  and  symbolic  art.  We  do 
not  question  this.  But  if  you  would  see  imitation  in 
its  illegitimacy,  which  more  especially  concerns  our 
topic  at  this  time,  then  notice  it  in  its  applications. 
For  instance,  Art.  Men  of  money  sometimes  buy 
pictures  when  they  get  nothing  but  copies.  We  are 
not  all  artists,  and  we  cannot  judge;  so  we  must 
depend  upon  testimony.  But  how  often  we  see 
described  as  the  inspired  production  of  some  great 
master,  some  mere  imitation,  and  poor  at  that.  It 
is  no  work  of  genius.  Art  is  development;  art  is 
evolution;  art  means  the  vital  conception  of  beauty 
or  truth,  the  progress  of  its  unfolding  in  the  mind 
of  genius,  until  at  last  it  stands  all  aglow  in  vision 


FURTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS.  89 

or  tone,  the  realized  form  of  perfectness  in  sense.  It 
is  never  imitative.  Art  is  always  original.  Artifice 
is  not  always  original;  usually  borrowed. 

Apply  the  distinction  to  Literature,  and  you  see 
the  same  thing.  What  is  the  difference  between  the 
scholar  and  the  student?  A  scholar  is  an  imitator, 
while  a  student  is  an  evolver.  A  student  is  one 
whose  mind  is  in  process  continually  of  vital  de- 
velopment from  central  personal  germs  of  power.  A 
scholar  may  know  everything  in  the  world,  and  be 
nothing  in  himself.  A  student  may  know  scarcely 
anything,  and  be  next  to  Omnipotence.  One  is  the 
birth  and  maturity  of  power;  the  other,  the  ma- 
chinery or  instrumentality  and  the  tools  thereof. 

So  in  Morals.  A  man  may  be  pointed  out  to  you 
who  never  tripped  —  the  law  was  not  sharp  enough 
to  catch  him.  He  was  rounded  on  every  corner; 
so  polished  and  smooth  that  the  very  rain  of  heaven 
would  fall  off  from  him  externally  like  oil.  Inter- 
nally it  may  be  different.  Externally  the  platter  is 
clean,  nice  and  fine  : —  Imitation.  Another  man  may 
be  scarred  all  over,  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to 
the  sole  of  his  foot,  by  conflicts  of  passion  with  him- 
self; from  the  fights  with  evil  outside  ;  quick,  strong, 
impulsive,  explosive.  He  may  be  covered  all  over 
with  the  stone-marks  made  by  those  hard,  sharp 
missiles  which  conventional  morality  threw  at  him, 
and  the  uncharitable  judgments  of  men  ;  while  inside, 
where  God's  judgments  frame  their  verdicts,  the  very 
fights  he  carried  on  with  himself  for  the  sake  of  the 

sublimest  conquest,  may  have  started  germs  of  char- 

8* 


JO  IMITATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 

acterand  wrung  out  cries  from  his  soul  for  help  from 
God,  that  make  him  in  the  end  a  Paul,  or  a  Peter,  or 

a  Luther.  When  the  outward  scars  shall  all  lie 
healed  over  by  spiritual  granulation  from  within,  he 
shall  be  fair  and  pure  as  the  angels.  While  a  mere 
frescoed  moralist,  one  who  imitates  right  from  the 
mere  constraints  of  an  outward  conventionalism, 
ma)'  be  inwardly  festering  with  the  virus  of  all  un- 
cleanness. 

Apply  the  same  thing  to  manners  and  you  come  to 
the  same  result.     Who  is  a  well-mannered  man  or 
woman  ?     Somebody  who  has  read  Chesterfield  ?  or 
somebody  who  understands  court  etiquette,  or  who 
has  snobbed  it  around  among  the  parrots  and  par- 
venus of  social  conventionalism  ?     Why,  the  figures 
in  the  showman's  windows  can  do  it  with  fewer  mis- 
takes.    Good   manners,  high  breeding,  true  quality 
of  soul,  gentle  life  —  it  is  a  culture,  a  growth.     It 
comes  not  of  imitation;  it  is  a  birth  of  graces  and 
beauty  and  worth  from  within.     It  comes  naturally, 
as  blossoms  come,  answering  to  no  prescribed  pat- 
tern.    A  well-bred,  well-reared  soul   is   a   copy  of 
nothing.       The    gentle,    living,    genial,    beneficent- 
hearted  man  or  woman,  pure  as  sunshine,  is  God- 
made,  trained  and  developed  in  that  school  of  higher 
tuition  from  which  all  humanity  must  draw  its  finest 
finish  and  expression. 

Consider  heroism.  Did  you  ever  see  a  mock  hero, 
crying,  "  Don't  be  a  coward  !"  Bravery  at  that  rate 
is  as  easy  as  it  is  cheap.  Who  is  the  true  hero  ?  A 
man  with  firm  and  mute  lip,  with  fixed  eyes,  with 


WHO  IS  THE  HERO  SAIXT?  9 1 

blanched  face  it  may  be,  who  can  go  down  into  the 
breeding  charnel-house  of  disease,  and  from  it  pro- 
ject a  sanative  campaign  that  shall  turn  back  the 
advancing  waves  of  the  destroyer,  while  he  under- 
stands very  well  that  it  is  at  the  cost  of  his  own  life. 
Who  is  the  hero  ?  He  who,  if  necessary,  cannot 
only  walk  up  to  the  cannon's  mouth  when  the  battle 
is  raging,  but  in  some  peaceful  hour,  for  the  sake  of 
some  grand  victory  out  of  which  the  jubilees  of  all 
time  shall  be  made,  can  put  the  cup  to  his  lip  that 
shall  make  him  missing  forever.  Who  is  the  hero 
saint?  Not  he  who  brags  of  his  virtue,  and  his  ex- 
cellence, and  his  prayers,  and  his  sanctity,  and  some- 
times his  orthodoxy — but  we  will  leave  that  out. 
The  saintly  hero  is  he  who,  in  the  face  of  scribes 
and  pharisees,  dares  to  tell  the  truth  because  it  is  the 
truth;  who  dares  to  do  right  because  it  is  right;  who 
can  afford  to  be  just  at  a  cost,  and  make  a  record 
that  shall  paint  no  shame  in  his  face  at  last ;  he  has 
saintly  courage  who  can  do  all  this  without  fear, 
favor,  or  hope  of  reward.  Such  as  this  don't  come 
to  a  man  all  at  once.  He  can  chalk  it  on  the  black- 
board ;  he  can  dramatize  it  in  symbols,  stage  effect, 
or  altar  practice  ;  but  that  won't  do.  It  must  be  an 
experience  developed  from  within,  of  power  and  self- 
regency  under  the  law  of  God,  the  only  acknowledged 
higher  law. 

Charity.  What  is  charity  ?  Great  pockets  full  of 
money  ?  That  indeed  is  excellent ;  still,  what  is 
charity?  A  mighty  institution,  a  tract,  a  Bible,  a 
missionary  society,  scattering  beneficence  as  autumn- 


92  IMITATION  AND  />/■  VEL  OPMENT. 

leaves  fly?  A  kind  of  sentimental  philanthropy, 
dispensing  patronage  as   easily  as  it   is   acquired; 

whose  best  name  is,  after  all,  indifference?  Nay, 
this  is  charity  —  the  widow's  mite,  the  great  broad 
heart.  The  hoard  of  Croesus  may  be  charity.  If  it 
has  a  beautiful  spirit,  a  spirit  broad  enough  to  take 
in  all  the  margin  of  the  great  life-play,  all  the  con- 
flicts, all  the  joys,  all  the  reciprocities  of  light  and 
shade,  singing  and  sighing,  then  wealth  and  power 
and  glory  may  be  charity.  But  this  greatest  of 
graces  is  an  emancipated  soul  ;  a  soul  touched  by 
the  love  of  God;  a  high,  mighty,  suffering  love  of 
heaven  ;  touched  in  its  germ-centre,  unfolded,  un- 
folding, into  personal  experience;  growing,  develop- 
ing, until  it  becomes  a  mighty  fact,  as  God  was  a 
fact  manifest  in  the  world.  Charity  is  help,  sympa- 
thy, spontaneous,  the  result  of  a  cultivated  and  dis- 
ciplined character;  never  done  by  proxy,  never 
reached  by  copying,  never  possible  by  transcript  or 
imitation.  It  must  be  born  from  -within.  You  can- 
not tell  who  is  charitable  or  who  is  not,  by  appear- 
ances. The  most  charitable  man  that  ever  lived 
never  told  of  it.  The  grandest  exhibition  of  charity 
that  has  been  on  this  earth  —  nobody  knew  much 
of  it  but  the  angels.  Once  in  a  while  you  see  a  case 
like  Mr.  Peabody,  or  Mr.  Stewart  —  I  speak  of  them 
a-^  honorable  men  of  course  —  who  seem  impressively 
charitable.  And  yet  real  c'.arity  is  that  which  is 
home-born — born  and  reared  in  the  way  I  am  speak- 
ing of,  whether  it  be  known  or  unknown  to  the 
world. 


APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION.  93 

Men  have  a  passion  for  eloquence.  What  is  elo- 
quence ?  If  men  love  anything  in  the  world,  it  is  to 
hang  spellbound  upon  living,  palpitating  words  and 
brain-throbs  from  some  fount  of  genius  and  power. 
Who  is  the  eloquent  man,  Demosthenes,  Cicero, 
Burke,  or  Pitt?  Who  of  our  own  land,  Webster, 
Everett,  Patrick  Henry,  or  Henry  Clay?  Thoughts 
dnd  words  that  speak  and  burn,  and  burn  to  speak, 
are  born  ;  they  are  a  growth  of  utterance  ;  they  are 
an  evolution  of  life  and  power.  They  ask  no  leave  to 
be ;  they  pattern  after  nothing ;  they  are  self-spoken. 
Mankind  will  live  and  be  glad  to  hear  and  answer 
such. 

Apply  the  same  thing  to  religion.  That  was  the 
application  in  the  text.  Who  are  the  saints  in  the 
world?  Are  they  those  men  and  women  who  seem 
to  suspect  that  it  would  never  be  suspected  of  them  — 
I  mean  sainthood  — but  for  the  great  and  liberal  ad- 
vertisements which  they  often  make,  or  attempt  to 
make,  of  their  goodness  ?  Who  are  the  saints  ?  the 
men  in  dress  parade,  in  fresco,  in  stage  action, 
whether  in  church  or  out  of  church  ?  experts  at  re- 
ligious machinery  —  are  those  the  saints?  Was  it 
St.  Simon  so  called,  who  stood  on  the  pillar  till  his 
very  nails  grew  to  be  like  bird's  claws  —  was  he  the 
typical  saint?  Or  shall  it  not  be  rather  some  poor 
unknown  toiler  and  sufferer,  who  works  the  very 
nails  off  until  his  fingers  bleed,  for  man,  for  truth, 
and  for  love's  sake  ?  Who  are  the  saints,  we  again 
ask?  the  dogmatists  who  fill  the  world  with  noise 
and  clamor  and  strife  and  blood,  about  mere  names 


04  IMITATION  AND  DEVI  LOPMENT. 

and  words,  about  something  which  they  think  they 
must  imitate  from  father  or  grandfather,  from  saint 
or  apostle,  or  somebody  else  ?  Is  he  the  saint,  or 
the  soul  with  Christly  spirit,  that  don't  know  the 
meaning  even  of  the  battle  words  with  which  lie 
hews  out  mischief  in  the  world?  Who  is  the  saint, 
we  still  inquire  ?  Is  it  that  closeted  one  at  whose 
lips  an  invisible  car  bends  to  catch  the  breathing, 
and  to  wing  it  away  and  tell  of  it  up  high  ?  or  is  it 
he  whose  prayers,  it  may  be,  are  so  elaborate  and 
ostentatious  as  to  be  troublesome  to  his  neighbor? 
Is  the  true  saint  of  the  world  the  zealot  of  the  past, 
who  patterns  and  copies  the  t-crossings  and  the 
i-dottings,  word  for  word  and  letter  for  letter?  or  the 
man  and  woman  who  know  nothing  about  the  letter, 
and  care  nothing  about  it;  hungry  only  for  the  spirit, 
and  for  greater  things  to  come  ?  Are  the  saints 
they  of  the  paint  and  toilet  one  day  in  the  week?  or 
they  without  any  paint  or  any  toilet  whatever?  but 
who  fear  God  and  do  righteousness  from  Sunday 
to  Sunday,  and  from  Monday  to  Monday,  living  and 
dying. 

Who  are  they  that  pray.'  Such  as  carry  their 
prayers  in  their  pockets,  or  in  their  hearts?  Men 
who  retail  them  off  as  the  work  of  a  machine,  or 
who  hide  them  for  the  most  part,  not  only  in  the 
closet,  but  in  the  deep-glowing  fires  of  the  heart? 
Men  consumed  with  the  passion  of  desire  —  men 
divinely  frenzied  for  emancipation  from  darkness,  for 
liberation  and  freedom  from  the  thralls  and  restraints 
of  time  and  sin,  that  they  may  be  in  the   liberty- 


THE    TRUE  BELIEVER  AXD  CHRISTIAN.        95 

chime  of  the  Divine  thinking?  Such  soul-agony 
does  not  perish ;  it  is  not  cheap ;  it  is  not  born  all  at 
once;  it  comes  as  summer  comes  out  of  winter;  it 
comes  as  life  comes  out  of  death ;  developed  from  the 
sources  of  man's  nature  when  touched  by  the  life  of 
the  higher  nature. 

Who  really  believes?  He  who  knows  more  creeds 
than  you  can  count?  he  who  makes  more  noise  and 
trouble  in  the  world  about  his  orthodoxy  than  ever 
the  Master  did?  and  yet  would  be  first  to  come  under 
the  impeachment  of  the  chapter  we  read  this  morn- 
ing? or  he  who  knows  nothing  about  such  things, 
and  cares  nothing  about  them;  but  is  in  a  state  of 
suffering  sensibility  lest  his  spirit  lose  its  purity,  or 
his  heart  be  soiled  or  compromised  by  evil  ?  Who 
really  believes?  He  who  takes  the  life  of  Christ  into 
his  soul?  or  he  who  only  takes  the  history  of  Christ, 
and  how  men  have  thought  about  Christ  in  other 
days  ?  Is  the  true  believer  the  one  who  is  the  sub- 
ject of  high  and  divine  inspirations,  so  deep  and 
profound  that  he  cannot  utter  them  and  talk  about 
them  ?  or  he  who  is  so  loaded  and  clogged  with  the 
mere  theories  and  opinions  of  men  on  the  subject, 
that  he  has  no  scope  for  anything  else  ? 

Who  is  really  the  Christian  ?  Is  it  the  punctilious, 
exact  imitator  of  what  is  done  and  canonized  and 
endorsed  by  other  imperfect  men  ?  or  he  who  goes 
forth  with  life  and  strives,  as  a  conscientious  man,  to 
do  everything  he  does,  and  think  everything  that  he 
thinks,  as  an  upright,  true,  honorable  son  of  an  all- 
perfect  Father,  hoping  never  to  be  ashamed  of  his 


$6  I  MIT.  1 77(  I '  1>1  I  'EL  ( >/'.)//:  XT. 

record  in  the  great  end?     The  real  Christian!     It  is 
easy  to  symbolize  virtue,  to  symbolize  our  graces,  to 
say  if  we  dress  in  white  it  means  so  and  so;  if  we 
dress  in  black  it  means  so  and  so;  if  we  do  this,  it 
means  one  thing;  if  we  do  that,  it  means  another;  if 
we  read  the  drama  and  play  the  play,  we  acknowledge 
such  graces  and  such  virtues.     It  is  easily  done  — 
very  easily  done.     But  to  develop  from  the  man  him- 
self this  grand  drama  of  purity  and  grace;  of  beauty, 
and  truth,  and  glory;  bringing  it  right  out  of  him  as 
roses  are  brought  from  winter  and  ice  —  that  is  not 
so  easy.    There  is  a  mighty  difference  ;  one  is  develop- 
ment axidgrowth  ;  the  other  is  imitation,  copy,  simulation. 
Having,  then,  touched  these  distinctions  and  illus- 
trations  and  applications,  you  have  not  failed,  even  of 
yourselves,  to  notice  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  great 
fundamental  matters ;  that  we  have  touched  vital,  es- 
sential ideas  and  principles.     In  the  first  place,  one 
is  never  obliged  to  be  a  copyist;  he  is  never  obliged 
to  be  an  imitator;  he  is  a  free  man,  if  he  will  use  his 
freedom.     Every  man  has  an  internal  seed,  a  capacity 
of  nature,  a  power,  a  competence,  that  may  be  de- 
veloped into  a  true  man  —  I  don't  say  without  God  ; 
but   he   has   that   subjective   element  in    his   nature 
which  can  save  him  from  a  mere  parody,  a  mere 
imitation. 

Then,  when  a  man  comes  to  a  life  of  truth  and 
self-development,  he  touches  the  heart  and  harmony 
of  universal  things ;  all  that  lives;  the  grand  uni- 
versal life  of  nature;  perfectness  in  God.  Every 
man  who  comes  into   this   true   personal   life  is   in 


STRIKING  THE   VITAL  CORDS.  97 

affiliation  therewith.  True  progress  lies  here.  How 
many  are  there  ever  learning,  and  never  able  to 
come  to  acknowledge  the  truth  !  This  is  the  reason. 
They  work  externally;  they  work  unvitally,  in  ma- 
chinery, in  signs,  patterns,  symbols,  impersonalities. 
Truth  must  be  born  through  their  experience ;  they 
must  have  developed  minds.  Grand  evolutions  of 
God's  thinking  must  come  forth  of  them  constantly. 
Then  they  will  be  ever  learning,  ever  knowing  more 
and  more. 

And  here,  in  this  process  of  true  personal  develop- 
ment, we  come  to  organize  the  life  that  is  now,  into 
the  life  that  is  to  come.  A  life  of  imitation  will  leave 
its  copywork  behind;  the  copyist  will  go  naked  into 
another  world,  poor,  blind,  naked  in  himself,  being 
nothing.  What  we  plead  for  strikes  the  vital  cords, 
strikes  the  great  arterial  circulations  that  knit  the  two 
lives  into  one  ;  and  everything  we  do  here  rightly  and 
divinely,  shall  last  —  we  shall  find  it  at  the  last  day. 

A  man  who  lives  in  his  religion  as  a  mere  copyist, 

a  mere  echo  of  other  thoughts,  and  other  opinions, 

and  other  characteristics,  will  surely  come  to  those 

exigencies  in  life,  where  he  will  be  found  wanting. 

At  his  own  tribunal  he  will  lack  balance,  poise  and 

self-control.     He  may  have  thought  he  was  a  saint ; 

that  he  had  deep  trust  in  God ;  that  he  knew  where 

his  stay  and  staff  were ;  but  he  will  come  to  some 

great  hour  in  which  he  will  feel  that  he  has  been 

nothing  but  an  imitation.     Whereas  a  man  who  h 

truly  developed,  unfolded  in  his  nature,  coming  into 

these  stressful  hours,  will  find  that  the  cords  are  all 
9  G 


98  IMITATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 

taut ;  that  the  spars  arc  all  firm  ;  that  he  has  a  stay 
and  a  balance  in  the  storm.  The  deck  may  rock  un- 
derneath him,  but  he  is  trimmed.  The  laws  of  the 
storm  are  fur  him.  He  has  grown  personally,  ex- 
perimentally. 1  Ie  has  his  allies  in  the  great  universal 
law  of  the  perfectness  of  things. 

Such  a  man  is  somebody,  instead  of  a  sign  of  some- 
body. Having  taken  God  up  unto  him,  he  is  more 
and  more  a  true  man.  He  is  like  a  tree  growing  by 
the  river-side  ;  his  nurture  comes  from  the  sources  of 
universal  truth  and  life.  History  no  longer  holds 
him  her  vassal;  history  is  not  his  prison;  it  is  not 
his  authority  ;  never  his  tyrant,  she  stands  as  his  ad- 
monition;  his  warning;  his  tutor;  but  his  master 
never.  One  is  his  master,  even  He  whom  all  history 
owns.  Hope  is  no  longer  an  echo  of  the  past,  but  a 
bright  glimmer  from  out  of  the  future.  Faith  is  a 
deep,  well-settled  trust  in  the  order  of  things;  an 
order  that  is  unbroken  as  the  wisdom  of  God.  Trust 
is  a  confidence  in  God  that  he  will  never  play  false. 
Aspiration  becomes  a  prophecy  now  as  well  as  a 
yearning  in  man's  nature;  and  salvation,  nothing  but 
a  sublime  evolution  of  man  out  of  the  still  primal 
germ  with  which  God  seeded  his  nature,  now  fructified 
by  a  Divine  nature.  I  am  speaking,  you  perceive,  of 
manhood  ;  of  perfected  man  ;  developed,  disciplined, 
inspired,  regenerated,  broad,  living ;  of  faith  as  a  fact , 
or  religion  as  a  personal  reality.  If  carat  will  be 
finisJied  selfhood ;  that  finish  that  was  ever  heralded 
in  the  dream  slumbers  of  creation  and  re-creation. 

So  that,  following  religion  through  the  economy 


THE  ADMONITION.  99 

of  a  vital  evolution  instead  of  dead  imitation,  we 
have  a  beginning  which  is  the  planting  of  God  in 
your  nature, —  regeneration  is  a  good  word  for  it,  if 
you  take  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  word.  If  you 
hold  to  the  process  of  this  planting  in  its  develop- 
ment, which  is  the  summer  growth  of  God  in  your 
soul,  then  you  come  to  the  end,  which  is  the  ripening 
of  God  to  the  fruits  of  character  unto  immortality. 

Thus  we  have  set  forth  these  distinctions ;  these 
illustrations ;  these  applications ;  and  these  general 
co-ordinate  principles. 

Now  for  the  admonition.  Be  yourselves ;  first,  be 
yourself;  next,  be  yourself;  and  last,  be  yourself; 
God  only  being  greater,  as  He  is  your  helper  and 
your  counsel. 

Develop  your  nature;  don't  leave  that  to  decay, 
die  and  rot,  while  you  are  busy,  making  great  ado 
about  the  working  of  things  on  the  other  side ;  de- 
velop your  manhood  and  womanhood ;  stir  up  your 
soul  to  life  and  fire  down  at  the  very  germ,  and 
quicken  that.  God  is  right  here  to  help  you.  Un- 
fold the  God  -  given  capacities  within.  You  have 
such  capacities.  They  are  in  God's  image.  Unfold 
them ;  make  them  larger,  broader  and  broader ;  don't 
be  satisfied  because  you  think  you  are  converted, 
and  "  saved."  You  are  saved  only  so  far  as  you  are 
unfolded.  A  man  would  be  foolish  to  think  that  be- 
cause the  tree  has  sprouted  in  the  acorn,  such  is  the 
end  of  the  matter.  Most  likely  the  germ  will  die ; 
it  must  die  if  it  be  not  permitted  to  go  on  and  fulfil 
the  scale  of  its  economy.     So  unfold  this  capacity 


lOO  IMITATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 

of  mind,  of  heart,  of  reason,  of  memory,  of  hope, 
of  aspiration  ;  and  as  these  capacities  unfold,  fill  them 
with  the  contents  of  God  himself.    Let  I  lim  be  poured 

into  these  empty  cups  of  your  nature.  When  the 
capacities  for  these  flowers  before  us  were  opened, 
God  came  down  and  filled  them  ;  therefore  they  are 
not  sham  ;  God  is  in  that  flower  as  in  your  nature ; 
as  in  the  developed  and  broken  heart ;  divinity  there 
for  beautiful  ends.  I  use  the  illustration  for  the  sake 
of  saying  that  this  expansion,  and  developed  capacity 
of  your  human  nature,  must  be  filled  from  the  contents 
of  the  Divine  nature.  That  makes  you  a  reality,  your 
true  self,  and  not  a  mere  copy  or  sign  of  something. 

Then  your  life  shall  not  wither  however  severe  the 
drought ;  and  your  root  shall  not  perish  however  chill 
the  winter.  Then  life  itself  will  be  a  sublime  elo- 
quence, your  very  presence  in  the  world  being  as  the 
tongue  of  God,  speaking  high  and  beautiful  things  ; 
and  death,  when  he  shall  come,  will  be  only  a  kind 
of  caesural  pause,  where  the  last  mortal  paragraph 
ends  and  the  immortal  begins  in  this  sublime  utter- 
ance, which  is  yourself  proclaiming  the  glory  of 
God.  Be  yourself,  then,  and  not  another.  Be  en- 
tirely real,  and  true,  and  positive ;  be  no  make- 
believe,  but  a  mighty  faith  and  fact  in  your  own  per- 
sonal right  and  estate;  and  then  you  yourself  shall 
be  a  new  Word  of  God,  vitally  and  divinely  spoken. 

Modern  Jews  of  Jerusalem  have,  at  the  west  side 
of  the  Temple,  what  they  call  a  "wailing  place" 
where  they  go  every  Friday  afternoon  about  three 
o'clock,  and  bewail   the  death   of  their  nation  ;  the 


UNFOLD    THE  DIVINE  BUDS.  IOI 

departure  of  its  glory ;  the  silence  of  its  temples  ! 
O  how  much  better  would  it  be  for  that  degraded 
people  to  turn  away  from  the  past  toward  the  future, 
and  let  their  cry  be  to  God  for  the  grandeur  and 
glory  of  temples  that  are  coming,  by  virtue  of  which 
the  glory  that  was  shall  be  nothing.  The  Christ  and 
glory  that  they  and  we  want,  are  ahead ;  something 
to  be  expected ;  and  not  what  we  hold  in  our  memory. 
The  Christ,  the  Gospel,  the  glory  that  we  all  want, 
is  the  coming  finished  self ~  unfolded  from  the  primal 
germ  of  such  infolded  possibility  as  God  wrapped  up 
in  the  beginning  of  our  existence.  Men  love  to  think 
of  Heaven  as  a  garden,  a  paradise  —  beautiful  figure 
indeed.  That  garden  is  to  be  just  where  it  now  is, 
in  your  own  nature ;  your  own  nature  divinely  de- 
veloped and  perfected.  Why,  then,  go  about  pick- 
ing up  leaves  from  other  gardens ;  from  other  men's 
experience  ;  from  past  ages,  when  your  own  is  full  of 
divine  buds  and  germs,  if  you  only  let  them  up  into 
life  and  sunshine  waiting  to  greet  them  and  make 
them  a  garden  immortal  in  the  hereafter  ? 

Development,  then,  means  inspiration  as  well  as 
aspiration;  it  means  taking  in  divincness,  breathing 
in  air  and  summer  as  well  as  unfolding  your  native 
capacities.  This  is  what  we  are  pleading  for.  Be 
true,  therefore,  to  this  economy  of  the  divine  hus- 
bandry ;  be  true  to  the  vocation  of  your  nature. 
Then,  when  the  frescoes  and  the  signs  and  the  imi- 
tations are  all  done,  and  there  is  no  Jew  outwardly, 
you  shall  be  beautiful ;  you  shall  be  abiding  in  this 
state  as  God  himself. 
9* 


VI. 

CHARITY. 

And  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charitv  —  these 
three  ;   bt*t  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity. 
i  Corinthians  xiii.  13. 

IN  the  exquisitely  beautiful  and  tender  delineations 
of  this  thirteenth  chapter,  we  have  the  master- 
piece of  Paul.  For  depth  of  insight,  for  profound- 
ness of  philosophy,  for  comprehensiveness  of  scope 
and  intent,  for  gentleness  of  feeling,  for  vital  per- 
vasiveness of  spiritual  power,  and  fulness  of  state- 
ment as  to  the  sum  and  substance  of  Christ  and  His 
religion,  this  chapter  is  not  only  unsurpassed  by 
anything  that  Paul  wrote,  but  unequalled  by  anything 
found  among  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  or 
elsewhere  in  the  New. 

Here  the  heart  of  Christianity  is  purposely  un- 
veiled ;  the  portrait  of  what  the  religion  of  Christ 
can  make  in  human  character,  is  presented  inten- 
tionally ;  the  divinity  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  it 
manifests  itself  in  the  working  of  the  human  soul,  is 
the  point  of  the  painter's  pencil.  God's  power  in 
transforming  and  saving  man,  may  be  here  seen  in 
living,  concrete  fact. 

In  the  previous  chapter,  the  spiritual  gifts  and 
personal  endowments  best  suited  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  religion  and  the  Church  are  pointed  out. 

102 


THE  NOBLEST  CHRISTIAN  GRACE.  IO3 

They  arc  mentioned  as  tongues,  knowledge,  the  gift 
of  healing,  the  power  to  govern,  the  power  to  work 
miracles,  the  gift  of  prophecy,  the  power  of  faith, 
skill  in  interpretation,  and,  at  last,  apostleship  itself. 
We  have  it  in  such  words  as  these  :  "  To  one  is 
given  the  word  of  wisdom;  to  another  knowledge; 
to  another  faith ;  to  another  healing ;  to  another 
miracles  ;  to  another  prophecy  ;  to  another  tongues  ; 
to  another  interpretation  of  tongues ;  all  by  the 
same  spirit."  The  chapter  closes,  after  enumerating 
the  gifts  of  healing,  the  gifts  of  interpretation,  the 
gifts  of  miracles,  and  of  faith,  with  the  admonition, 
"Covet  the  best  gifts;"  and  then,  at  the  end  of  that, 
is  added,  "  I  show  unto  you  a  more  excellent  way." 
That  way  is  detailed  in  the  chapter  following. 

"  What !  "  we  are  ready  to  exclaim  from  our  edu- 
cation, from  our  associations  from  the  very  cradle  up 
to  manly  and  womanly  life  —  "what!  is  it  possible 
that  there  can  be  anything  more  excellent  than  faith, 
than  hope,  than  miracles,  than  prophesying,  and  all 
the  other  spiritual  gifts,  not  omitting  apostleship 
itself? "  Yes,  there  is  something  more  excellent 
than  any,  or  all.  It  is  Charity.  Its  superior  excel- 
lence is  indicated  after  this  fashion :  "  Though  I 
speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and 
have  not  charity,  I  am  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal.  Though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy  and 
understand  all  mysteries,  all  knowledge,  and  though 
I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains, 
and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.  And  though  I 
distribute  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though 


104  CHARITY. 

1  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  charity, 
it  profiteth  me  nothing!*  All  nothing!  nothii 
sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbals,  all.  Why? 
For  "charity  never  faileth;  whether  there  he  pro- 
phecies, they  shall  fail;  tongues,  the}- shall  cease; 
knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away.  For  we  know  in 
part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part.  But  when  that  which 
is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be 
done  away." 

Here  is  something  surpassing  all  other  graces  and 
gifts,  in  that  it  never  fails.  Here  is  something  which, 
in  the  fading  presence  of  all  other  brilliance  and 
power,  is  perennial  in  its  thrift  and  growth.  Here 
is  a  truth  and  grace  which,  while  earthy  surface  and 
mere  lip  accomplishments  are  fading,  ebbing  into 
the  last  hue  and  cadence,  shall  be  waxing  stronger 
and  stronger,  from  childhood  to  manhood,  from 
manhood  to  angelhood,  until  at  last  it  shall  shine  as 
the  face  of  God  in  the  conscious  fullness  of  com- 
pleteness. 

Last  Sunday  we  tried  to  answer  the  question : 
What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  and  did  not  dare  go 
far  from  the  authority  of  Christ.  Therefore  we  said: 
"He  is  a  Christian,  or  she  is,  who  lives  the  life  tJiat 
Christ  lived."  That  doctrine  is  rejected,  we  know,  to 
some  extent ;  but  when  we  must  go  among  conflict- 
ing opinions,  and  take  the  risk  of  making  our  stand 
where  matters  are  disputed,  I  think  it  is  always  best 
to  hang  upon  the  lips  that  spake  as  never  man  spake, 
and  so  trust  the  issue.  Therefore  I  answered  the 
question   as   I   did.      Wvw   is  the  same  question  an- 


MISTAKE  OF  PROTESTANTISM.  105 

swered  in  another  form.  Christ  told  men  how  to 
live.  Paul  held  up  a  specimen  of  what  man  is  who 
does  live  as  Christ  directed.  We  do  not  study  this 
matter,  this  actual,  living  part  of  religion,  as  we 
should.  We  find  ourselves  hiding  away  in  theory, 
covering  ourselves  up  in  doctrine,  or  what  we  call 
our  beliefs  or  faiths,  so  far  from  real  life  often  that 
if  our  beliefs  were  contagious  our  lives  would  be 
scarcely  in  danger. 

And  I  seem  to  see  a  reason  for  this.  I  don't 
blame  myself  altogether;  I  don't  blame  men  gen- 
erally for  being  in  this  position.  Who  of  us  does  not 
reflect  the  training,  the  manners,  the  habits  of  thought 
we  inherited  in  our  first  lessons  ?  These  matters 
come  upon  us  unconsciously  ;  therefore,  the  fact  that 
we  rule  out  of  our  religion  so  much  practical  life  and 
godliness,  does  not  perplex  me,  for  I  seem  to  see  a 
reason  for  it,  and  in  part  an  apology. 

Notice  that  the  religion  and  faith  which  we  call 
Protestant  has,  from  the  first,  left  this  whole  matter 
of  charity  quite  too  much  out  of  its  doctrines.  We 
remember  that  the  primal  enunciation  of  the  Refor- 
mation was  "  salvation  by  faith  alone!1  That  grand 
movement  was  constructed  on  military  principles. 
Opposition  to  what  was  assumed  to  be  wrong  in  the 
past,  was  its  central  force  and  purpose.  The  move- 
ment contemplated  arrest  of  error  more  than  devel- 
opment of  truth.  It  was  a  protest,  as  the  name  im- 
plies. There  come  periods  in  the  world  when  just 
this  sort  of  work  is  necessary. 

One  error  the  Protestant  Reformation  set  itself  to 


106  CHARITY. 

correct,  was  that  of  supererogatory  service.  The  re- 
form under  Luther  could  not  endorse  the  idea  that 
a  man  can  work  an  extra  credit  mark,  so  that  by 
virtue  of  that  extra  righteousness  in  service  he  may 
sometimes  offset  an  indulgence.  So  the  whole  force 
of  the  movement  set  itself  against  that  idea,  and  said  : 
"  No,  not  by  extra  service,  but  by  faith  alone  d 
man  win  Divine  favor."  Then,  again,  the  Protestant 
movement  set  itself  to  fight  against  what  is  called 
the  abuse  of  charity.  Almsgiving  had  become  a 
might)'  institution  ;  and  we  Protestants  are  free  to 
say,  or  ought  to  be,  that  in  the  dispensations  of 
charity  in  the  forms  of  almsgiving,  looking  after  the 
poor  and  needy,  succoring  and  uplifting  the  down- 
fallen,  the  Catholic  Church  for  centuries  did  a  work- 
that  should  put  every  Protestant  face  to  the  blu^h. 
But  then  we  know  that  all  men  are  alike,  especially 
as  seen  in  the  fact  that  no  man  or  institution  can 
bear  perpetual  prosperity  without  running  into  dan- 
gerous degeneracy.  Almsgiving  became  a  means 
of  wealth  and  power;  or,  to  put  it  in  better  phrase,  a 
grand  system  of  collection  for  investment.  Against 
that  the  new  movement  protested.  Faith  was  the 
principle  run  up  on  every  Protestant  flag;  nothing 
but  faith,  faith  untarnished  by  works.  And  then 
Protestantism  said  there  was  a  great  deal  of  super- 
stition lingering  in  the  Church.  It  had  risen  to  colos- 
sal dimensions  ;  it  had  put  its  mighty  grasp  upon 
the  vitals  of  Christ.  That  is  what  Protestantism  pro- 
fessed to  set  itself  to  correct;  superstition  coming 
from  Paganism  ;  lingering  shadows  of  it  coming 
down  from  an  elder  dispensation. 


THESIS  OF  THE  GREAT  REFORMER.  lOy 

Now,  it  is  never  any  use  to  unhorse  a  wrong  rider, 
and  then,  in  leaping  to  the  saddle,  leap  over  to  the 
other  side ;  for  you  are  off  as  much  as  your  antago- 
nist. Protestantism  did  it.  This  very  day  she  is 
quite  as  deficient  in  charity  and  humanity  as  the 
Catholic  ages  were  in  spirituality  and  divinity.  Sal- 
vation by  faith  alone  rang  out  the  thesis  of  the  great 
Reformer  ;  and  the  reverberations  and  echoes  thereof 
fill  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Salvation  by  faith  alone  —  and  this  is  just 
as  much  an  error  and  superstition  with  Protestants, 
as  was  salvation  by  works  alone  with  Catholics. 
Paul,  of  all  apostles  and  teachers,  is  cited  as  author- 
ity for  this  faith-scheme.  Paul  was,  indeed,  in  a  very 
important  sense,  the  Protestant  of  his  day.  His  first 
movement  and  grand  work  was  a  protest  against  the 
errors  of  a  former  dispensation ;  and  yet,  if  you  will 
notice,  when  Paul  comes  to  speak  for  himself  on  this 
very  point  of  faith,  what  does  he  say?  This,  pre- 
cisely :  "  There  is  something  as  much  greater  than 
faith  in  the  matter  of  religion,  as  faith  is  greater  than 
sight."  There  is  something  as  much  more  impor- 
tant than  faith,  as  truth  and  reality  in  religion  are 
superior  to  "  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbals." 
When  Paul  comes  to  speak  for  himself,  his  grand 
word  is  :  "  Though  you  have  faith  that  may  remove 
mountains ;  nay,  though  you  give  your  body  to  be 
burned,"  it  is  all  talk,  it  is  all  "  nothing."  Nothing 
is  the  word  he  uses.  Unless  this  foremost  and  fun- 
damental grace  impassion  your  soul,  martyrdom  and 
faith  are  not  saviors  at  all. 


108  CHARITY. 

Paul,  by  the  interpretations  of  nun,  has  evidently 
been  perverted.  Most  unmistakably  has  he  been 
misinterpreted;  but  that  is  not  singular.  We  know, 
for  example,  how  Paul  has  been  set  against  James, 
and  James  against  Paul ;  and  how  much  sweat  of 
rhetoric  and  lumber  of  logic  have  been  spent  as  if 
they  needed  reconciling.  It  is  easy  to  set  up  men 
of  straw  and  then  shoot  them  down.  What  is  effected 
when  you  have  reconciled  James  and  Paul  ?  Nothing  ; 
they  were  never  at  variance  in  their  theology.  Just 
so  Paul  has  been  set  against  himself.  The  polemics 
did  it;  and  after  they  had  professed  to  solve  the  diffi- 
culty which  they  had  created,  they  only  left  the 
matter  just  where  they  found  it.  When  this  great 
faith-apostle  is  permitted  to  stand  before  the  com- 
mentators and  speak  for  himself y  as  he  spoke  before 
Agrippa  in  that  personal  vindication,  what  does  he 
say?  This,  indeed:  Faith  is  great  and  mighty, 
and  enters  as  a  force  into  salvation  ;  hope  is  great 
and  mighty,  and  enters  as  a  force  into  salvation. 
"  By  faith  ye  are  saved  ; "  "  by  hope  ye  are  saved  ;" 
and  yet  there  is  a  greater  than  faith,  or  hope,  or 
death  itself,  and  that  greater  is  —  Charity.  They 
are  put  in  the  background  by  him  when  he  speaks 
for  himself,  while  this  comes  to  the  front ;  and  who 
shall  say  Paul  is  not  more  competent  to  speak  for 
himself  than  we  are  to  speak  for  him  ? 

Protestantism,  then,  the  reformation  movement  of 
three  centuries  ago,  seeing  what  was  to  be  done, 
seized  the  reins  of  infallibility  from  the  hands  of  the 
Pope,  and  mounted  the  chariot  of  infallibility  itself. 


FAITH  ALONE  NOT  PAUL'S  DOCTRINE.      IO9 

Then  the  grand  old  fighters,  the  stalwart  theological 
leaders  and  polemics  of  that  day,  putting  their  own 
interpretation  upon  Paul  instead  of  taking  Paul's  in- 
terpretation, lifted  their  flag  and  started  their  cam- 
paign. The  whole  movement  was  constructed  on 
the  polemic  system,  opposing  and  protesting  against 
something  assumed  to  be  wrong.  Instead  of  bowing 
to  Paul  as  primary  authority  on  the  matter  upon 
which  he  speaks,  Paul  was  compelled  to  bow  to  the 
reformers ;  so  that  we  in  our  day  have  come  to  read, 
as  they  did,  this  greatest  of  Apostles  through  the 
spectacles  of  other  parties,  instead  of  reading  and 
judging  of  those  parties  through  the  eyes  of  Paul 
himself.  And  this  is  about  the  whole  story  of  salva- 
tion by  faith  alone.  No  wonder  that  St.  James  said, 
"Faith  alone  is  like  a  body  without  a  soul,  dead;" 
and  dared  to  boast  a  little,  constructively,  in  saying, 
"  Show  me  thy  faith  without  works,  and  I  will  show 
you  my  faith  by  my  works."  He  did  not  discard 
faith,  but  he  demanded  that  it  should  be  living  and 
productive.  No  wonder  that  Paul  himself  said  after- 
wards, when  handling  religion  in  its  practical,  living 
form,  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling;  this  God -power  which  is  love -power 
working  in  you  to  will  and  to  do."  That  is  the 
motive,  the  inspiration,  the  why  and  the  wherefore 
of  the  whole. 

In   that,    Paul   but   repeats  Jesus    Christ   himself. 

Christ  told  men  how  to  live ;   Paul  tells  them  what 

they  will  do,  how  they  will  appear,  the  fruits  they  will 

yield,  if  they  do  live  as  Christ  directed.     And  here 

10 


110  CHARITY. 

the  two,  Paul  and  Christ,  conic  to  oneness.  The 
man  of  Tarsus  and  the  man  of  Nazareth  arc  one  in 
spirit,  in  purpose,  in  result. 

Jesus  Christ  said,  when  on  earth,  "  A  new  com- 
mandment  I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  an- 
other;" and  on  another  occasion,  putting  it  in  a 
different  form,  He  summed  up  all  the  law  and  the 
Prophets,  the  whole  duty  of  man,  in  this  one  exercise 
of  love  or  charity  —  toward  God  primarily,  toward 
others  as  ourselves.  The  meaning  of  this  word 
charity  is  simply  Love.  That  is  God's  name  in  the 
Bible,  and  that  is  His  nature  there  declared.  "God 
is  love,"  says  the  Book.  This  is  the  mission  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  our  world.  This  is  His  Gospel  of 
salvation.  God  Himself,  who  is  love,  so  exercised 
His  Godhood,  that  He  sent  this  power  of  salvation 
in  Christ  into  the  world  ;  and  because  He  first  loved 
us,  the  argument  runs,  we  love  Him  ;  Divine  love 
propagating  itself  in  human  love.  Charity,  accord- 
ing to  this,  is  the  very  seed  and  root  of  all  the  graces 
and  all  final  harmonious  thinking.  The  charity  of 
Paul  is  the  love-power  of  God ;  the  love-power  of 
God  is  the  incarnation  of  Christ;  and  Christly  men 
are  the  fruitage  and  the  trophies  of  this  power. 

Here  then  stand  the  mighty  three,  Faith,  Hope, 
Charity;  F*aith  grasping  all  coming  possibilities; 
Hope  throttling  the  old  giant  Despair;  and  Charity 
breeding  in  human  nature  the  Divine  nature.  Hope 
is  mighty ;  her  lamp  shall  never  be  extinguished. 
Faith  is  great  and  grand ;  she  shall  live  forever. 
These  three  are  one  in  harmony  and  purpose,  and 
the  three  shall  reign  for  evermore.     But  the  kingly 


THE  GIFT  TO  BE  COVETED.  Ill 

glory  of  this  trinity,  you  will  observe,  is  not  Faith ; 
it  is  not  Hope;  it  is  Charity.  This  wears  the  crown. 
So  speaks  Paul,  speaking  for  himself. 

Follow,  therefore,  after  charity.  This  is  the  more 
excellent  way ;  this  the  kingly  and  queenly  gift  to 
be  coveted ;  without  this  all  other  gifts  are  vain  talk 
and  specious  disguise.  Here  is  the  theology  of 
Christ,  Paul  and  God,  according  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  and  here  their  religion.  "  Tongues  shall 
cease;"  "Knowledge  shall  vanish  away ;"  the  musical 
syllables  of  time  shall  ebb  to  silence ;  the  crumbling 
foot-rest  of  the  hour  shall  trickle  from  Faith  ;  but 
there  is  something  that  is  abiding,  something  that  is 
lasting,  something  that  is  unfading.  Men  may  have 
faith  that  shall  '"remove  mountains,"  which  is  in- 
tended to  be  the  mightiest  and  most  exhaustive 
statement  or  conception  of  faith.  Men  may  add 
thereto  their  own  bodies  to  be  burned ;  and  after 
they  have  done  it  —  what?  Martyrdom  itself,  to- 
gether with  this  mightiest  faith,  is  nothing.  Men 
may  know  all  mysteries  ;  they  may  believe  in  and 
work  all  miracles ;  they  may  turn  true  or  false 
prophets,  and  speak  like  angels ;  yet  without  this 
God-name  and  God-nature  in  their  religion,  they  are 
not/iing. 

This  is  the  undeniable  testimony  of  him  whom 
men  have  vaunted  as  authority  for  salvation  by  faith 
alone  ;  a  testimony  as  explicit  as  it  is  conclusive,  and 
which  makes  Faith,  when  compared  with  the  great- 
ness of  Charity,  fade  and  vanish  into  nothing! 

Are  the  old  superstitions  all  dead  ?  Is  Paul  an 
infidel?     Is  the  religion  of  Jesus  a  worthless  rag? 


VII. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  eye  cannot  say  unto  the  hand,  I 
have  no   need  of  thee;  nor  a 
the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need 
of  you.  —  I  Corinthians  xii.  21. 

THE  body  is  a  system  of  related  parts,  organs, 
and  functions.  The  eye  is  helped  by  the  hand, 
and  the  head  by  the  feet.  Stomach,  lungs  and  heart 
work  together;  so  do  bones,  nerves  and  muscles. 
The  whole  is  a  beauteous  unity  made  up  from  great 
diversity;  strong  and  balanced  on  the  principle  of 
interdependence  and  supplemental  adaptation. 

The  same  is  true  of  mind  as  of  body.  Memory, 
judgment,  love,  sorrow,  reason,  will,  worship,  work 
together  in  unity,  each  helping  to  complete  the  other. 

So,  also,  in  the  whole  realm  of  truth.  Ideas  are 
related,  supplementary,  interdependently.  Goodness 
goes  with  wisdom,  and  beauty  with  both.  Science, 
faith,  art,  virtue,  beneficence,  arc  a  brotherhood. 
Each  has  need  of  the  other  and  of  the  whole. 

A  recent  vigorous  Christian  writer  of  Britain  penned 
this  incisive  thought :  "  No  man  can  become  a  true 
theologian  by  the  perusal  of  works  that  are  only 
theological,"  —  a  truth  wonderfully  in  harmony  with 
the  principle  of  the  text.  And  a  careful  meditation 
on  that  truth  by  us  all,  would  be  a  great  deal  better, 
doubtless,  than  the  sermon  you  will  hear  this  morn- 

112 


INTERDEPEND EXCE  OE  IDEAS.  I  1 3 

ing.  In  its  little  mustard-seed  is  a  glory  that  can 
fill  all  the  heavens  of  life. 

This  truth  applies  not  only  to  theologians  and  to 
religious  teachers,  but  to  all  teachers  and  all  subjects. 
Would  a  man  be  a  philosopher?  It  won't  do  to 
begin  and  end  with  Aristotle,  Plato,  Descartes,  or 
Kant.  He  must  be  not  only  of  the'  sensational 
school,  but  must  know  the  ideal  school  as  well ;  and 
not  stopping  there,  he  must  acquaint  himself  with 
the  great  sceptical  school ;  mastering  that,  he  will 
be  ready  to  pass  into  the  mystic  order  of  thought ; 
and  thence  finally  on  to  the  grand  eclectic  method, 
wherein  he  will  stand  balanced,  master  of  what  has 
been,  candidate  for  what  may  be. 

Would  a  man  become  proficient  in  science  ?  He 
must  remember  that  astronomy  alone  cannot  make 
him  so.  Astronomy  is  dependent  upon  mathematics. 
The  science  of  botany  is  full  of  beauty  as  well  as  use  ; 
but  it  is  intimately  connected  with  and  dependent 
upon  the  science  of  chemistry.  The  birds  of  the  air, 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  sub- 
sist upon  the  great  economy  of  organized  matter. 
If  you  would  understand  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
you  must  go  down  into  the  mineral  kingdom,  and 
catch  the  whispers  through  which  the  latter  talks  to 
the  former,  and  understand  somewhat  the  terms  of 
amity  through  which  they  hold  intercourse.  The 
eye  and  the  hand,  the  head  and  the  foot,  are  not  in- 
dependent anywhere. 

Are  you  an  artist?  You  are  not  so  because  you 
can  build  a  house,  a  barn  or  a  temple.  You  are  so, 
10  *  H 


114     CHARACTERS  7    MODERN  THOUGHT. 

if  at  all,  because  you  possess  art,  —  or,  rather,  art 
possesses  you.  You  musi  study  this  wonder  in  its 
fellowships.     You  will  build  a  better  house  if  you 

understand  sculpture;  and  chisel  better  if  you  can 
paint;  and  sing  better  if  you  can  do  all  the  rest, 
whether  in  form,  color,  tone,  thought  or  passion. 
You  must  know  the  great  world  of  beauty  in  itself, 
and  its  laws  as  they  stand  related  to  the  world  of 
sense  and  the  laws  of  expression.  Then  you  can  do 
anything  that  needs  to  be  done. 

The  statesman  is  not  such  because  he  understands 
the  labyrinths  of  diplomacy,  or  has  his  hobby  in 
legislative  halls  or  cabinets.  lie  is  so  because  he 
understands  not  only  the  constitution,  the  code  and 
the  policy  of  his  own  country,  but  because  he  is  well 
versed  and  broadly  read  in  the  history  of  social  organ- 
ization and  action.  He  must  know  monarchy,  the 
genius  of  despotism,  patriarch)-,  aristocracy,  as  well 
as  democracy ;  all  forms  of  government  and  how 
they  came  to  be  —  the  providential  necessity  of  them. 

The  lawyer  wants  familiarity  with  not  only  his 
codes  and  precedents,  and  rules  of  evidence  and 
pleading,  but  he  needs  also  to  know  men,  the  code 
of  motives,  the  internal  statutes  of  equity,  the  consti- 
tution and  precedents  of  human  nature,  together 
with  long  ranges  of  history  and  philosophy. 

The  physician  must  be  skilful  in  physiology  and 
the  materia  medica  ;  he  must  be  facile  in  diagnosis, 
prognosis,  and  clinics.  But  it  won't  do  for  him  to 
stop  there.  He  must  be  more  comprehensive,  or  he 
will  kill   and  cure  by  the  same  rule.     He  needs  to 


WHAT  THE  PREACHER  SHOULD  BE.         1 1  5 

know  pathology  of  feeling  and  of  thinking;  he  must 
be  a  detective  of  moral  symptoms ;  he  must  have 
insight  into  the  spiritual  coloring  and  weather  of  the 
soul,  and  know  how  to  modify  and  control  this  subtle 
sorcery  of  the  sick-room,  if  he  would  be  master  of 
the  issues  of  life  and  death. 

And  the  preacher  needs  to  be  best  furnished  of 
all.  If  what  is  said  of  him  be  true,  namely,  that  his 
themes  are  the  highest,  his  responsibilities  the 
greatest,  then  should  he  be  most  comprehensive 
and  ample  in  his  furnishing.  He  needs  to  be  not 
only  an  "  earthen  vessel  "  but  a  fountain  if  possible ; 
a  theologian  not  only  of  the  azoic  period,  but  of  the 
age  of  living  men ;  not  simply  a  mnemonic,  a  guant 
pilgrim  with"  his  basket  full  of  relics  and  charms, 
but  an  inspired  prophet  with  the  whole  counsel  of 
God.  He  must  know  not  only  the  technics  of  his 
sect-school,  denomination  and  church,  he  must  also 
know  the  minds  and  characters  of  men  as  they  stand 
recorded  in  general  history  and  general  literature. 
He  must  know  not  only  what  he  himself  thinks,  but 
what  his  neighbor  thinks ;  and  be  as  patient  under 
his  thought  as  under  his  own.  He  must  know  not 
only  his  specific  religion,  but,  if  he  be  a  Christian,  he 
must  know  all  other  religions.  The  true  teacher 
must  study  them  ;  he  must  find  what  truth  there  is 
in  them  ;  how  they  came  to  be,  and  to  be  when  and 
what  they  were  and  are.  He  has  no  right  to  shut 
his  eyes,  and  then  stone  the  Mohammedan,  or  the 
Jew  by  whose  Scriptures  he  also  swears.  He  has  no 
right  to  refuse  to  read  by  the  light  of  the  proximate 


Il6     CHAl  7/ST/CS  01    AfODERN   THOUGHT. 

noon  of  the  West,  the  old  religions  of  the  East,  in 
any  of  their  diverse  forms  or  powers,  whether  in 
Egypt,  India,  or  Persia.  The  men  there  were  and 
are  his  brothers,  differing  in  their  origin,  constitution, 
and  wants  in  no  respect  from  himself.  The  differ- 
ences are  external,  accidental,  non-essential,  and  he 
cannot  be  a  wise  teacher  who  refuses  to  know  the 
why  and  the  wherefore  of  these  things. 

And  the  true  theologian  should  be  wide  and 
luminous  in  the  world  of  science  as  well  as  letters. 
Science  is  God's  divine  law  in  nature.  His  first 
Bible  was  not  this,  but  that  —  two  volumes  on  the 
same  subject.  They  go  together;  and  he  who  cannot 
accept  this  truth  is  no  fit  leader  for  the  blind,  or  even 
for  those  who  have  vision.  The  theological  teacher 
must  be  learned,  so  far  as  he  can  be,  in  the  divinity 
of  God's  thoughts,  wherever  and  however  he  has 
spoken  them,  whether  in  the  Bible,  creation,  provi- 
dence, or  the  human  soul.  If  he  would  indite  and 
perpetuate  a  theology  that  is  worth  anything,  that 
will  be  remembered  a  day  after  he  is  done,  he  must 
give  it  no  provincial  accent,  but  make  it  speak  in  a 
language  universal  as  God.  Otherwise  one  had 
better  be  in  counting-rooms,  on  commercial  wharves, 
bridging  oceans,  building  cities,  wherein  men  do 
greatly  and  truly. 

Indeed,  it  would  be  well  if  all  preachers  would 
study  more  of  the  divinity  of  actual  life,  know  men 
and  the  world  the)'  live  in.  We  all  know  at  what  a 
discount  the  pulpit  stands  in  practical  wisdom,  a 
knowledge  of  affairs.     We  would   hardly  be  trusted 


MINISTERS  NEED  SECULAR  KNOWLEDGE.     \\7 

to  draw  a  check,  if  we  had  the  right.  The  world 
would  not  pick  us  out  to  manage  railroads,  engineer 
great  commercial  enterprises,  solve  problems  of 
political  economy,  and  make  laws  for  the  regulation 
of  states  and  institutions.  And  yet  we  ought  to  know 
men  in  their  life  and  action,  because  here  their  char- 
acters are  made ;  motives  and  principles  come  into 
play ;  life  comes  to  success  or  failure.  For  life  lived 
and  done  in  the  body  and  the  reasons  thereof,  and 
for  nothing  else,  shall  we  be  judged. 

The  minister  and  theologian  should  know  the 
pathology  of  mind  and  heart  in  the  concrete ; 
what  human  sickness  is  in  the  moral  and  spiritual 
sense,  and  how  it  is  to  be  cured.  Charms,  relics, 
mystic  spells,  medicine- men,  rain  -  makers,  cloud- 
compellers  will  not  do  it.  The  hurt  of  the  mind  and 
heart  is  to  be  healed  by  generating  underneath  the 
wound  what  is  right  and  pure  and  true,  till  all  be  full 
of  health.  A  preacher  will  preach  a  better  sermon 
for  having  large  secular  knowledge,  just  as  a  shoe- 
maker will  make  better  shoes  if  he  has  studied 
anatomy  for  the  balance  and  pose  of  the  human 
form  ;  just  as  a  dressmaker  will  make  a  better  fit 
and  a  better  costume,  on  hygienic  principles,  if  she 
has  studied  the  physiology  of  her  sex ;  or  a  black- 
smith make  a  better  bolt,  knowing  perfectly  the 
expanding  and  contracting  forces  of  heat  and  cold 
on  iron.  A  laborer  will  sleep  better  in  the  night  if 
he  has  earned  a  good  conscience  during  the  day, 
and  understands  ventilation  and  the  electric  currents 
of  earth  and  atmosphere.     A  Christian  will  pray  a 


l  1 S     CHARACTERISTICS  01   MODERN  THOUGHT. 

great  deal  better  if  he  has  studied  the  value  of  pure 
air,  and  warm  sunshine,  and  clean  water,  and  good 
digestion  —  for  prayers  are  not  worth  much  that 
steam  up  out  of  the  diseased  results  of  violated  law. 
They  are  not  healthy.  All  things,  all  laws,  all  divine 
functions,  go  together  —  head,  heart,  hand  —  through 
and  through  the  world. 

These  remarks  are  preliminary;  and  their  value 
lies  in  the  fact  that  they  more  easily  raise,  and  give 
posture  to,  what  is  more  especially  my  subject; 
which  is,  the  notice  of  some  of  the  leading  charac- 
teristics and  tendencies  of  modern  thought.  I  will 
mention  four:  Breadth,  Consistency,  Depth,  duty. 

First,  Breadth.  You  cannot  talk  with  a  man  five 
minutes  —  if  he  is  the  kind  of  man  you  like  to  talk 
with  —  without  perceiving  how  his  mind  is  shooting 
out  in  almost  every  direction,  upon  almost  every  sub- 
ject; but  especially  on  subjects  related  to  his  more 
immediate  interest,  lie  wants  to  know  not  only 
what  he  does  know  of  the  matter,  but  also  what  he 
does  not  know.  He  is  under  the  inspiration  of  one 
of  the  great  characteristics  of  modern  intelligence, 
namely,  the  great  truth,  that  all  things  are  related. 
He  does  not  know  that  which  he  assumes  to  know, 
until  he  understands  the  boundaries  of  it,  what  lies 
next  to  it,  and  determines  it  to  be  what  it  is.  The 
moment  a  man  feels  the  contagion  of  this  expansive- 
ncss,  has  caught  the  grand  sympathy  of  related  truths, 
he  begins  to  think  truly  ;  and  thinks  as  never  before. 
There  comes  at  once  more  breadth  and  scope  to  him. 
Perhaps  not  more  depth  as  well,  but  certainly  more 


CORRELATIONS  OF  TRUTH.  1 19 

mental  expansion ;  a  wider  perception  of  the  work- 
ing of  all  ideas  and  of  the  practical  truths  that  men 
do  know,  than  ever  before.  And  it  is  this  which 
makes  more  practical  men,  men  of  finer  executive 
ability.  Compared  with  a  hundred  years  ago,  one 
man  can  do  the  work  of  fifty,  or  of  a  thousand, 
simply  because  of  this  broadening,  generalizing  and 
systematizing  tendency  and  order  of  thinking.  This 
touching  of  the  conjunction-points  among  related 
ideas,  is  the  seed  of  all  mental  enlargement. 

Secondly,  this  is  a  day  in  which  men  not  only  see 
truth  in  its  relations,  but  also  in  its  correlations,  how 
one  truth  is  fraternal  and  necessary  to  another.  They 
begin  to  see  as  never  before  that  ideas  go  in  pairs  ; 
that  they  go  in  families.  There  is  parent  and  off- 
spring, brother  and  sister.  Ideas  go  in  communities. 
A  whole  colony  of  truths  will  sometimes  leap  into 
a  man's  mind  like  inspiration,  simply  because  he  is 
in  this  atmosphere,  or  the  life  of  this  law ;  not  only 
of  the  relations  of  things,  but  of  their  correlations, 
their  fellowship,  their  mutuality.  That  kind  of 
thought  is  very  marked  in  the  thinking  world  to- 
day; it  rules  men  of  science;  it  governs  the  true  in- 
terpreter of  God  anywhere  and  everywhere. 

In  the  third  place,  notwithstanding  the  super- 
ficiality of  the  world,  men  are  to-day  more  radical 
than  ever.  They  go  more  to  the  root  of  things; 
send  down  into  the  darkness  peering  questions,  that 
do  not  come  back  until  they  bring  answers.  What 
men  want  to  know  is,  the  foundations  of  things  ;  the 
unquestioned  certitudes  in  which  this  truth  or  that 


120     CHARACTERISTICS  <»/■  MODERN  THOUGHT, 

idea  stands;  the  very  root  and  principle  of  things. 
Men  are  asking  such  questions  as  never  before;  and 
that  is  one  reason  why  they  do  not  stop  at  pheno- 
mena, declining  to  accept  as  finality  the  mere  sign 
or  signal  thrown  up  as  a  provisional  expediency  for 
a  time.  They  must  go  deeper,  arc  not  willing  to 
rest  as  rational  beings,  until  they  have  touched  the 
root  of  the  matter.  A  true  radicalism  is  one  of  the 
finest  signs  of  the  times;  a  radicalism  which  is  born 
of  the  brain,  not  of  the  stomach  or  the  liver;  an  in- 
stinct for  truth,  audacious,  veracious,  persistent,  finely 
mannered,  finely  balanced  ;  which  sings  and  paints 
and  aspires,  but  never  scoffs,  never  pulls  down,  never 
uproots.  If  it  chance  to  come  upon  some  old  snag 
of  error,  it  will  be  less  apt  to  raise  issue  with  it,  than 
to  plant  a  seed  of  truth  still  deeper,  and  cultivate  that 
till  the  new  supersede  the  old  and  take  possession 
of  the  field.  In  the  divine  order,  evil  is  always  over- 
come by  good. 

Finally,  Unity.  The  yearning  of  men  to-day  is 
unspeakable  for  this.  Wherever  it  finds  a  truth,  here 
or  there,  whether  it  be  a  blooming  thing  of  beauty 
for  the  hour,  a  glowing,  throbbing  pulse  in  the  sky, 
or  a  hieroglyphic  down  deep  in  the  earth,  anywhere, 
everywhere,  the  great  yearning  restless  asking  is, 
How  do  these  stand  related  ?  What  is  their  common 
origin  ?  How  do  they  all  consist,  and  what  is  the 
high  point  of  view  from  which  the  whole  is  seen  as 
one  grand,  beautiful  harmony  ?  Some  men  say,  there 
is  a  God  from  whose  standpoint  all  this  may  be  be- 
held, and  from  whom  the  whole  conception  sprang. 


THE  SWAY  OF  OLD  ERRORS.  121 

Others  say  the  plan  originated  itself.  But  the  great 
truth  stands,  in  any  case,  of  this  related  order  and 
harmony  of  things.  This  oneness  which  the  mind 
and  heart  yearn  for,  is  an  inborn  instinct,  a  necessity 
of  rational  intelligence.  To  think  it  is  to  affirm  it 
and  obey  it.  Men  will  not  accept  anything  in  these 
days,  until  they  see  in  an  intelligent  way  how  it  stands 
in  relation  to,  and  in  consistency  with,  this  grand  idea 
of  integral  wholeness.  When  that  is  seen,  the  n.ew 
truth  is  welcomed  as  a  brother  from  the  same  home 
and  parentage.     Men  give  it  their  right  hand  heartily. 

Breadth,  Consistency,  Depth,  Unity ;  these  are  charac- 
teristics and  tendencies  of  all  live  thinking  to-day. 

And  yet,  divine  as  all  this  evidently  is,  there  are 
always  some  to  break  faith  with  it.  Let  a  truth  of 
nature  be  introduced  to  a  truth  in  religion,  a  truth 
learned  from  the  flower  be  put  alongside  a  truth 
learned  from  this  Book,  and  their  harmony,  fellow- 
ship and  brotherhood  be  spoken  of  as  of  children 
of  the  same  Father,  and  not  a  few  are  disturbed, 
possibly  alarmed.  Religion  seems  contradicted,  im- 
periled, profaned.  The  reason  is,  they  have  never 
thought  broadly ;  they  have  not  been  in  the  habit 
of  contemplating  ideas  in  their  relations  to  each 
other.  They  are  somehow  under  the  sway  of  old 
falsehoods,  that  matter  is  evil,  that  nature  and  the 
world  generally  belong  to  the  Devil  because  they 
are  his  work.  Whereas,  when  they  find  out  the 
truth,  all  these  are  as  divine  as  the  Maker  that  actu- 
ally made  them.     All  are  one,  and  for  one  grand 

end   working  together.     When  our  faith  takes  the 
ii 


122     CHARACTERISTICS  01  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

truth  in,  our  faith  is  increased.  When  our  prayers 
sweep  this  scale,  they  not  only  bring  us  nearer  to 
God,  but  send  pulsations  through  all  the  life  of 
heaven.  When  our  faith  stretches  out  to  the  extent 
that  it  may  gather  in  all  truth,  then  we  shall  begin  to 
live  a  true  religious  life.  So  far  as  faith  and  truth  are 
concerned,  we  begin  to  be  saved.  Then,  enthroning 
God  over  all,  because  He  made  all  and  is  in  all,  en- 
folding all,  we  shall  not  be  terrified  even  if  we  over- 
hear prayers  from  bending  ones  before  the  great  Altar 
of  the  skies,  from  worshipers  hidden  away  in  the  inner 
cloisters  of  Nature  herself,  from  the  mute  but  rever- 
ent lip  of  all  things.  On  the  contrary,  we  shall  be 
anxious  to  combine  their  fervor  and  inspiration  with 
our  own,  and  chime  all  such  vibrations  of  truth  into 
accordance  with  our  own  wants  and  aspirations. 

Nowhere  do  these  truths  apply  more  fully  than  to 
religion  of  course.  The  characteristics  and  tenden- 
cies of  thought  to-day  have  consciously  more  to  do 
with  religion  than  any  other  one  subject.  The  whole 
Christian  man  is  not  only  anxious  to  know,  and  to 
carry  out  his  own  personal  convictions,  but  he  is  in- 
terested that  his  neighbor  shall  also  do  the  same. 
But  because  he  has  gotten  the  grand  idea  of  this 
related  fellowship  of  all  truth,  he  does  not  expect  to 
be  damaged  by  the  success  of  his  neighbor's  thought; 
he  expects  rather  to  be  lifted  and  supplemented 
thereby.  He  is  never  troubled  because  there  is  an- 
other denomination  in  the  world,  another  church- 
fold  of  different  name  from  his  own,  or  a  different 
way  of  theological  thinking.      He  rejoices  therein. 


FREEDOM,  BREADTH,  CATHOLICITY.         1 23 

And  yet  there  are  thousands  withering  and  shriv- 
elling up  to-day  because,  forsooth,  they  think  it 
wrong  to  go  out  of  Judea  and  the  Bible  for  God. 
Somehow  or  other  they  stick  in  the  letter  and  bark 
of  Christianity,  regardless  of  root  or  fruit.  Many 
are  there  of  this  kind.  Nevertheless,  it  stands  true 
that  all  through  the  world,  ever  since  man  existed, 
God  has  never  been  without  his  witnesses,  never 
been  without  his  worshipers.  The  Christian's  busi- 
ness, especially  if  he  be  a  Christian  teacher,  is,  to 
study  not  only  Christianity  in  denominations  and  in 
history,  but  to  study  the  religious  nature  of  man;  to 
study  that  mighty  sentiment,  that  wondrous  function 
in  human  nature,  as  it  has  manifested  itself  all 
through  time.  If  I,  as  a  teacher,  am  not  ready  to  do 
that,  I  had  better  be  doing  something  else.  In  place- 
of  bringing  before  you  the  obsolete  refrains  of  things 
that  have  had  their  day,  won  their  victories,  and  gone 
to  their  urns  and  epitaphs,  —  of  glory,  if  you  please, 
we  must  strike  for  breadth  and  advancement,  letting 
our  thoughts  go  out  fraternally  everywhere,  to  every 
brother. 

And  we  must  not  say  that  he  is  not  our  brother, 
because  he  is  of  a  different  latitude  and  longitude ; 
of  a  different  religion,  worshiping  a  different  exter- 
nal God.  Do  we  not  all  know  that  we  make  our 
own  God,  every  one  of  us  ?  The  Ethiopian  makes 
his  black ;  the  Greek  makes  his  beautiful  and  sen- 
suous ;  the  Egyptian  made  his  of  stone  and  night. 
Every  man  makes  his  God  according  to  himself. 
He  issues  a  high  edition  of  himself —  I  am  speaking 


124     CHARACTERISTICS  01-  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  his  conception  of  God,  of  course.  Winn  shall  we 
learn  that  these  conceptions  are  not  God  himself — dis- 
solving, melting  away,  behind  which  is  the  one  ever- 
lasting true  God,  coming  out  more  and  more  into 
revelation,  just  like  the  hidden  statue  in  the  marble. 
From  the  first  day's  chipping  you  would  not  know 
what  the  block  was  to  be,  even  as  you  would  not 
know  the  Christian  God  through  the  wooden,  stone 
and   iron  devices  of  Mini  anions  other  nations  and 


'& 


ages. 


But  the  true  God  is  coming  out  through  light, 
through  reason,  through  intelligence,  through  virtue, 
more  and  more.  And  I  don't  want  to  stop  Him  ; 
I  don't  propose  to  arrest  this  coming  of  abetter  con- 
ception of  God  into  the  human  soul,  saying  thus  far 
and  no  farther.  Though  it  might  be  easier  to  get 
along  with  religion  by  taking  it  for  granted  that  God 
is  known  as  much  as  He  can  be,  and  religion  is  all 
finished  at  our  hands,  we  having  nothing  to  do  but 
to  believe  it.  Still  the  assumption  would  be  fatal. 
The  theologian,  the  religious  teacher  now,  must 
flavor  what  he  knows  from  the  universal  scale  of 
what  can  be  known.  He  will  be  better  furnished 
for  his  work  through  the  teaching  and  culture  of 
general  literature,  than  by  gathering  all  he  can  get 
from  the  technicalities,  special  schools  and  theologies 
of  men,  and  staying  shut  up  there. 

What  religious  teachers,  and  religious  pupils  — 
what  men  of  all  classes  and  positions  to-day  want, 
is  broad,  general  life-culture.  The  Christian  now 
should  be  broadly  read,  broadly-thoughted ;  he  can- 


A  NE IV  DEPAR  TURE  DESIRABLE.  1 2  5 

not  live  on  the  same  catechism  that  once  served 
him  ;  he  cannot  live  on  the  same  creed  forever. 
Neither  borrowed  thought  nor  the  signs  of  thought 
can  bring  him  thrift;  he  must  break  away  and  think 
for  himself;  must  harness  himself  up  in  fundamental, 
universal  principles,  and  live  in  the  inspired  con- 
sciousness of  the  essential  harmony  and  divine  unity 
of  all  truth. 

vThen  he  will  be  balanced  ;  there  will  be  no  danger 
of  his  becoming  a  fanatic  ;  the  more  radical  he  is, 
the  more  truly  conservative  will  he  be.  In  a  word,  re- 
ligion, whether  as  existing  in  the  simple,  sweet  graces 
of  virtue  and  character,  or  the  heavier  statements  of 
theological  thought,  will  be  a  living  power.  Toward 
such  a  power  the  tendencies  are  stronger  to-day 
than  ever. 

A  Christian  cannot  pass  off  his  professions  for  his 
character  as  once  he  could.  He  does  not  stand  at  a 
premium  for  any  public  or  private  trust  where  ca- 
pacity and  integrity  are  required,  simply  because  he 
is  the  member  of  a  church.  He  ought  to.  And  I 
trust  there  is  to  be  a  new  departure  in  this  matter. 
I  want  to  see  the  time,  and  it  should  be  right  here 
now,  when  the  fact  that  a  man  professes  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  or  belong  to  a  Gospel  church  or  a  Gospel 
congregation,  will  be  a  certificate  that  he  will  not 
tell  an  untruth  ;  that  he  will  not  cheat;  that  he  will 
not  steal  his  neighbor's  gold  or  reputation ;  that  he 
will  not  plaster  himself  all  over  with  the  command- 
ments of  Christ,  and  then  violate  their  spirit  from 
sun  to  sun.     It  is  a  broad  satire,  even  now,  for  Chris- 


126     CHARACTERISTICS  01  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tians  to  prove  their  orthodoxy  by  saying,  "  I  do  not 
trust  to  good  works  for  my  salvation  ;  salvation  is  a 
matter  to  be  looked  after  by  another."  Such  testi- 
mony is  usually  superfluous.  But  the  time  will  come 
when  such  a  confession  of  faith  will  be  classed  with 
holy  water  and  the  blood  of  bulls. 

What  men  need  now  is  to  be  right  and  truthful ; 
in  sympathy  with  God  wherever  He  has  spoken  or 
made  a  sign  of  Himself;  arrayed  in  a  panoply  of 
everlasting  truth,  beauty,  purity  and  blessedness. 
Does  a  man  really  live?  What  is  he  to  do  with  his 
life?  If  he  die  shall  he  live  again  ?  These  are  great 
questions  ;  none  greater.  For  the  life  to  come  will 
take  care  of  itself;  it  is  nothing  but  the  blossoming 
of  the  seed  we  plant  here.  Our  anxiety  is  to  be  all 
here. 

There  is  a  special  significance  in  such  thoughts, 
from  the  fact  that  to-day  there  is  a  mingling  of  all 
nations,  religions,  peoples  and  races  of  the  earth,  as 
never  before.  In  this  broad  commingling  and  fel- 
lowship we  need  to  have  keen  insight,  the  detective 
faculty,  to  discern  what  truth  they  all  have.  Old 
walls  are  broken  down  ;  restrictions  are  removed ; 
and  there  is  a  mighty  rush  of  life,  a  mighty  inter- 
mingling of  diversities;  and  there  is  no  way  of  har- 
monizing them  but  by  striking  for  the  universal 
truth  that  underlies  all  life,  and  holding  to  that  as 
the  orchestra  holds  to  the  key.  Accidents,  provin- 
cialisms, mere  local  and  temporal  matters,  are  to  go 
for  nothing. 

And  this  is  especially  true  of  our  own   country. 


POSITION  AND   WORK  OF  THE  PULPIT.       12J 

Just  look  at  our  immediate  community.  There 
would  not  be  a  man  of  us  alive  to-day,  if  the  old 
authorized  plan  were  acted  upon,  namely,  of  burning 
a  man  for  differing  in  opinion  from  another.  But 
thanks  to  improvement,  that  is  not  sound  doctrine 
now.  Religious  thought  in  our  day  is  asserting  and 
maintaining  true  liberty.  Theology  is  enlarging  so 
as  to  include  all  related  truths  of  science.  If  Chris- 
tianity is  to  lead  the  world,  she  must  drop  her  old 
provincialisms;  she  must  drop  her  old  "shibboleths," 
and  stand  on  her  everlasting,  fundamental,  universal 
principles.  She  is  to  shake  out  each  wrinkled  fold 
of  her  great  banner,  and  let  every  stripe  and  star 
flash  in  the  sun.  He  who  refuses  all  this,  does  not 
comprehend  the  spirit  of  Christianity  or  his  day. 
The  spirit  of  Christianity  holds  just  this  breadth, 
depth,  harmony,  and  oneness.  Its  spirit,  I  say,  not 
its  letter;  not  its  external  history;  not  its  phenomena. 
Those  things  are  fleeting,  temporal ;  they  are  dead; 
they  die  in  their  birth,  many  of  them. 

A  Christian  church  in  the  better  day  to  come,  will 
be  something  more  than  an  organized  enterprise  to 
extend  the  church-roll  of  membership,  or  to  secure 
an  affluent  exchequer  for  charity  and  other  disburse- 
ments. The  bankers,  merchants,  the  social  and  fra- 
ternal guilds,  will  beat  us  out  and  out  in  such  mat- 
ters. As  to  things  instrumental  and  accidental  to  a 
good,  vigorous,  working  policy,  we  all  understand 
that.  They  are  a  power  and  necessity  in  their  place. 
But  they  are  only  the  coal  and  the  ropes  and  the 
rigging  on  board  the  ships,  and  not  the  ships  them- 
selves, nor  their  cargoes,  nor  their  destinations.     If 


128     CHARACTERISTICS  01   MODERN  THOUGHT. 

we   think    differently,  we    shall    only  decay  at  the 
wharf,  however  .splendidly  appointed. 

The  church  has  a  great  work  to  do  in  this  day. 
It  was  very  easy  once  to  run  over  a  list  of  articles 
and  subscribe  to  them  ;  to  recite  a  catechism  ;  to  ob- 
serve one  day  in  seven  according  to  set  usages.  But 
the  work  of  the  Church  to-day  is  the  rearing  of  the 
grandest  civilization  possible ;  the  rearing  of  the 
grandest  humanity  conceivable  ;  subsidizing,  in  this 
glorious  endeavor,  every  truth  available  in  the  uni- 
verse. When  this  work  is  truly  accepted,  we  shall 
hear  no  more  whining  about  evolution,  or  develop- 
ment, or  atheism.  When  the  manhood  of  faith 
comes,  the  measles  of  the  cradle  won't  trouble  any- 
body. Should  not  a  church,  a  pulpit,  a  theology, 
stand  in  the  very  van  of  progress  and  of  thought  in 
any  and  every  hour  of  the  world  ?  Should  it  not 
lead,  sounding  the  trumpet  of  advance,  the  bugle- 
blast,  onward?  charging  over  hill  and  valley,  instead 
of  following  in  the  rear  with  the  ambulances, 
the  vials  of  odors,  and  the  therapeutic  skill  and  in- 
dustry of  the  ages  ?  Is  religion  nothing  but  a  hos- 
pital, fit  only  for  invalids  and  imbeciles?  Is  it 
nothing  but  a  school  of  surgery  and  medicine?  We 
can  treat  it  so  if  we  please ;  but  as  we  treat  it  so  we 
shall  be.  If  the  half  or  the  tithe  of  what  we  have 
hinted  be  true,  shall  Christianity  be  represented  as 
divorcing  religion  from  life  and  the  laws  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  then  be  permitted  to  boast  that  she  is  the 
only  true  religion  ?  and  that  by  and  for  her  Christ, 
were  all  things  made,  and  in  Him  do  all  things  con- 
sist ?     Should  we  not  show  our  faith  by  our  works? 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  SHOULD  BE.  1 29 

Let  us  not  be  behind,  then.  Let  us  cultivate  execu- 
tive skill.  Let  us  seek  to  attain  grand  consistency 
in  this  work  of  life.  The  Church  should  be  the  uni- 
versity for  manhood,  and  the  university  for  woman- 
hood, with  life  for  the  tuition  time,  and  success  or 
failure  for  graduation.  Looking  upward,  let  us  bring 
into  relation  all  fraternal  truths,  in  nature,  in  provi- 
dence, in  the  world  of  beauty ;  let  us  harmonize  all 
these  correlative  fellowships  ;  let  us  strike  for  the 
root  of  things ;  and  over  all  enthrone  one  Creator, 
one  grand  intelligent  order  of  infinite,  sympathetic 
thought.  Then  all  shall  act  in  living,  harmonious 
concurrence,  and  life  and  strength  and  virtue  will  be 
the  result.  Religion  shall  be  to  us  a  perpetual  in- 
spiration, making  us  better  and  nobler;  more  affluent 
in  all  that  is  true,  beautiful,  and  good.  The  soul 
shall  grasp  the  living  truth;  it  shall  put  things  fitly 
together  by  their  joints,  in  every  part;  and  thus  it 
shall  divinize  itself  in  truth,  in  life  and  love,  not  only 
here,  but  forever. 

And  this  is  my  theme  this  morning :  the  tenden- 
cies and  characteristics  of  the  thinking  world  to-day, 
more  potent  in  religion  than  anywhere  else,  for  truth, 
goodness,  and  joy.  Let  us  accept  the  hand  of  God 
as  He  extends  it  in  providence.  Going  to  the  front, 
let  us  hearken  for  the  word  of  command  and  ad 
vance.  "  Great  and  marvelous  are  thy  works,  Lord 
God  Almighty  ;  just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou 
King  of  saints." 

Be  this  the  song  and  the  inspiration  of  our  pilgrim 

march. 

I 


VIII. 
FEAR  AND  LOVE. 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning 
of  wisdom. —  Psalms  iii.  10. 

Perfect  love  caste th  out  fear.  —  John  i. 
4,  IS. 

THE  Old  and  the  New  dispensations  put  to- 
gether. Fear  first :  The  death  of  fear  and 
triumph  of  love  at  last. 

Fear  begins  the  lesson  of  wisdom  ;  that  is  all.  It 
does  not  continue  it.  After  the  initial  step,  it  has  no 
place.  As  man  grows  wise,  cowardice  drops  out. 
The  seed  that  was  planted  in  the  night  and  frost  of 
trembling,  appears  in  the  blossom  of  love  and  the 
fruit  of  worship. 

The  ground  of  fear  in  religion  is  threefold  :  instinct ; 
wrong  ideas  of  God ;  and  a  wrong  condition  in  man. 

The  child  trembles  in  the  dark.  He  is  finite,  weak, 
and  immature.  The  child  uses  no  such  words  ;  he  is 
conscious  of  no  such  meanings  ;  but  instinctively  the 
shadows  of  dread  are  born  in  him  and  seem  to  hover 
about  him. 

Wrong  conceptions  of  God  fill  men  with  terror. 
They  make  bondmen  of  them,  slaves,  servile  cap- 
tives as  if  chained  to  some  royal  car  to  grace  the 
conqueror's  triumph.  In  this  sense  God  is  thought 
of   as  omnipotent,   indeed,   but   arbitrary,   having  a 

'3° 


FEAR  MAKES  MAN  IGNOBLE.  13! 

greater  care  and  jealousy  for  his  own  rights  and 
glory  than  for  the  good  of  his  children.  And  these 
wrong  conceptions  of  God  as  a  magnified  Jupiter, 
make  men  afraid  of  Him,  even  grown  men. 

And  then  again  these  terrors  are  bred  in  the  nest 
of  evil  and  wrong  in  man's  nature.  Nothing  will 
make  men  such  cowards  as  conscious  guilt;  nothing 
will  take  the  stability  out  of  a  man's  knees,  or  his 
heart,  or  his  eyes,  like  an  accusation  from  home. 
The  very  leaf  whispers  in  demon  voice ;  the  sweet 
fragrance  of  flowers  is  the  disguised  breath  of  some 
enemy  near  in  the  dark. 

And  so  for  this  threefold  reason  men  are  in  fear; 
and  fear  is  their  master. 

This  fear,  especially  religious  fear  —  for  of  that  I 
am  speaking  this  morning  —  has  wrought  all  man- 
ner of  direful  works  in  the  world.  Their  name  is 
legion  —  Moloch,  Satan,  Calumny,  Sacrilege,  Deceit, 
Guile,  Extinction  of  Light,  Confiscation  of  Honor, 
Blight  of  Manhood,  Famine  of  Soul,  Death  and  Dis- 
aster of  all  spiritual  Hope  and  Power.  No  people 
ever  rose  from  the  inspiration  of  fear.  No  nation 
ever  attained  height  and  power  and  honor  from  the 
stimulation  of  that  genius.  No  pure  religion  ever 
flourished  in  its  shadow.  No  noble  character  was 
ever  created  by  such  motive,  or  the  forces  generated 
by  it.  Fear  makes  man  ignoble.  Instead  of  weaving 
crowns,  it  discrowns  him.  Making  never  a  hero,  it 
dooms  possible  heroism  often  to  cowardice  and 
craven  meanness.  No  God  was  ever  truly  wor- 
shiped, with  fear  as  an  inspirer.     No  God  was  ever 


132  1 !  AR  AND  LOVE. 

loved  who  was  (headed.  Bad  as  man  is,  he  is  not 
about  to  seek  such  embraces.  No  wonder  the  in- 
stinct of  selfishness  under  the  name  of  religion,  has 
forced  and  bribed  man  to  buy  himself  off  from  the 
power  and  purpose  of  an  Omnipotence  he  dreaded, 
counting  it  his  highest  possible  fortune  to  get  out  of 
his  hands  at  whatever  price. 

Fear,  as  a  religion,  makes  God  mercenary  and 
man  venal.  As  men  have  risen  in  intelligence,  in 
virtue,  in  civilization,  in  conquest  over  the  world 
God  bade  them  subdue,  fear  has  dropped  out ;  the 
vassal  has  disappeared  ;  bondage  has  become  more 
and  more  a  name  without  meaning.  To  rise,  to  be 
truly  exalted,  is  to  become  free  —  freemen  under 
God,  not  his  slaves.  '  Nations  have  always  gone  up 
as  their  ideas  of  religion  have  risen.  The  grade  and 
character  of  the  religion  of  a  people  constitute  its 
social  thermometer.  You  can  read  the  altitude  of 
humanity  on  the  scale  of  its  faith,  whether  pertaining 
to  communities,  nations,  families  or  individuals.  Joy, 
purity,  liberty,  light,  worship,  have  blossomed  out 
from  human  nature  under  the  liberating  and  fructi- 
fying touch  of  light  and  love  ;  and  so  far  as  this 
order  of  things  has  come,  salvation  has  come. 

So  that  religion  is  a  graded  order  of  education ; 
the  unfolding,  fructification,  and  elevation  of  man's 
nature  in  relation  to  God's  nature;  the  opening  of 
his  eyes  to  see  who  his  Father  is,  and  what ;  and 
such  internal  condition  as*  receives  and  develops 
the  character  of  God  himself.  Ik-ginning  in  fear,  its 
education  passes  up  out  of  fear,  by  a  regular  grade, 
through  intelligence,  and  culminates  in  love. 


LOVE,   THE  CULMINATING  STAGE.  1 33 

Intelligence  is  necessary.  Not  one  step  out  of 
the  night  and  degradation  of  superstition  has  the 
world  ever  moved,  save  as  lifted  by  intelligence  — 
emancipation  of  the  mind  from  ignorance  by  means 
of  truth.  The  great  world  of  law,  order,  science, 
has  done  immensely  already  to  break  up  the  empire 
of  superstition.  She  has  slackened  her  grasp  not 
once  upon  human  nature,  save  as  it  has  been  neu- 
tralized by  the  touch  of  truth  and  reason. 

But  that  is  not  enough.  Intelligence  even  of  an- 
gelic ken  and  flame,  must  be  impregnated  by  a  life 
and  a  quality  from  above  itself,  or  some  hour  will 
come  when  its  own  results  will  fall  back  upon  itself 
like  ashes  from  spent  fires.  It  must  be  so,  or  there 
is  no  immortality  for  its  functions ;  no  God  related 
to  man.  In  a  word,  it  must  be  so,  or  we  are  talking 
like  insane  men  about  religion  this  morning. 

But  that  culminating  stage  is  designated  by  the 
word  love ;  passion  of  the  heart;  century  flower  of 
nature's  toil ;  the  last  slumbering  possibility  in  hu- 
manity evoked  and  matured  by  the  summer  glow  of 
God's  love.  We  love  him  because  he  first  loved  us. 
We  touch  God,  doubtless,  by  instinct,  primarily.  But 
He  meant  to  get  the  world  out  of  that  .as  soon  as  He 
could.  Then  we  touch  Him  through  the  world 
itself,  through  nature,  creation,  providence,  the  vast 
realm  of  intellectual  life  and  power  where  God  thinks 
and  his  glories  flame  out.  We  call  it  law  sometimes, 
and  science  at  others.  This  world  of  law,  science 
and  reason,  as  the  manifestation  of  God,  should  not 

alarm    professors    and    teachers    of    religion,    when 
12 


134  FEAR  AND  LOVE. 

spoken  of  in  connection  with  worship  and  faith. 
God's  thoughts  and  ways  will  not  hurt  anybody's 
piety  in  this  world,  or  prospects  for  the  next. 

But  God  comes  to  us,  also,  through  the  Scriptures  ; 
He  speaks  through  Prophets  —  the  grand  seers  of 
time,  the  teachers  and  rcvealers  —  personally  of  his 
own  personality.  God  comes  especially  near  to  the 
heart  of  the  world,  its  love-organ,  in  that  He  drops 
his  own  love  by  a  Divine  word  or  syllable,  out  of 
his  own  heart,  into  this  very  love-capacity  of  our 
nature.  Here,  in  this  last  communication,  we  seem 
to  get  a  more  radical  hint  of  the  fatherhood  of  God, 
than  anywhere  else — our  Father  as  well  as  Creator — 
care-taker.  Well  may  it  be  said  that  "  He  first  loved 
us."  Did  you  ever  know  a  monstrous  parent  ?  Then 
you  knew  one  without  love ;  and  God  without  that 
paternal  attribute  may  be  well  feared,  dreaded  and 
deprecated  as  monstrous.  Why,  the  world  would 
give  another  god,  if  it  could  command  Him,  to  get 
itself  out  of  his  hands  and  out  of  his  power.  I 
don't  wonder  at  the  theology  of  fear  —  dark,  bloody, 
fallen!  It  is  the  eclipse  of  God  and  the  night  of 
Paganism.  How  it  has  coarsened  the  world  and 
brutalized  it ! 

This  graded  order  of  Christian  education,  starting 
from  the  night  of  fear,  flashing  on  from  the  realm  of 
intelligence,  until  the  height  at  last  be  touched  of 
love,  purity,  and  worship,  stands  confirmed  by 
history. 

Go  back  to  the  old  religions  ;  go  back  among  the 
Pagan  gods  and  faiths,  and  what  do  we  find  ?     Is 


PROGRESS  IN  RELIGION:  1 35 

man  at  his  best  estate  in  religion  back  there?  Is  the 
prospect  more  cheering  as  you  retreat  ?  Any  room 
for  improvement,  think  you  ?  The  lowest  and  most 
primitive  form  is  that  of  Fetichism,  where  men  have 
their  fetich-god,  a  mere  creeping  thing,  inanimate, 
disgusting  often.     There  is  fear  there  —  nothing  else. 

Then  passing  up  from  that,  you  find  men  having 
gods  tidy  enough,  because  made  of  brass,  silver,  fra- 
grant wood,  shrines,  pictures,  sylphs,  and  shining 
demons.  But  the  end  is  not  there.  We  find  reli- 
gion pronouncing  itself  in  still  higher  forms  by  and 
by,  the  forms  of  abstraction,  ideal  conceptions,  imag- 
ination; some  of  them  beautiful  creations;  some  of 
them,  deformed  and  direful;  all  aglow  with  human 
passion ;  finely  tinted  with  prophetic  light,  many  of 
them.  These  stages  of  religion  you  find  back  among 
the  old  classic  and  cultivated  nations  and  peoples  of 
antiquity. 

Finally,  religion  comes  up  to  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man.  "  Love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  Not  fear  now,  but  reason,  love,  and  a 
sound  mind  reign ;  not  stocks  and  stones ;  not 
dreamy  abstractions,  but  love,  born  from  one  being's 
nature,  toward  the  nature  of  another  being ;  a  heart- 
flame  kindled  in  the  lower  by  the  pregnant  touch  of 
the  higher.  A  perfect  religion  casteth  out  all  fear, 
all  bondage,  all  servility,  through  the  dominion  of 
perfect  love.         , 

I  intimated  a  moment  ago  that  many  suppose 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  improvement  in  religion. 


136  FEAR  AND  L0\ 

Improvement  in  commerce,  the  arts,  governments, 
money-making,  and  soon;  but  no  improvement  in 
religion!  Alas!  Is  the  Sermon  on  the-  Mount  no 
improvement  upon  doves  and  bullocks,  children  in 
the  Ganges  and  mud-turtles  of  the  Nile? 

Go  back  over  the  world  and  begin  down  in  the 
night  of  fear  where  the  crocodile  is  God,  and  man 
trails  his  devotion  in  the  slime-path  of  the  reptile. 
Follow  up  the  idea  of  religion  as  man  had  it  then, 
and  has  it  now,  and  will  have  it  by  and  by ;  and  then 
babble  no  more  about  the  ancient  way  as  better  than 
those  the  latter  days  cast  up.  The  history  of  man 
is  the  history  of  improvement.  A  graded  order  of 
religion,  science,  civilization,  manhood,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  is  the  Divine  economy;  and 
truth  is  more  revealed  to-day  than  ever. 

Hut  where  do  we  stand,  personally?  It  is  easy  to 
preach  about  this,  and  hear  about  it ;  and  if  we  agree 
to  be  satisfied  all  round,  we  are  apt  to  think  the 
Lord's  work  is  done.  And  yet  the  question  is  not 
superfluous  :  Where  do  we  stand  in  this  matter  of 
religion?  In  bondage  or  out  of  it?  building  on  lull 
and  her  shadows,  or  on  heaven  and  her  heart  eternal  ? 
drawing  the  inspiration  of  our  motives  from  the 
Devil  and  his  interests,  or  from  God  and  his  nature? 
Fear  hath  torments  ;  fear  hath  hell ;  fear  hath  bond- 
age. I  hope  I  am  positive  enough  to  be  understood. 
We  carry  within  us  the  material  out  of  which  all 
moral  futurity  is  made.  Fear  drives  people  away 
from  religion  —  no  joy  in  it.  They  think,  without 
saying  it  a  great  many  times  :  "  Religion  is  painful ; 


TRUE  IDEA   OF  A  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.       1 37 

it  is  a  yoke;  it  has  something  grindingly  irksome 
about  it ;  and  when  I  want  a  good  time  I  go  else- 
where for  it."  Why  is  it  irksome  ?  Why,  churches 
are  regarded  as  a  sort  of  vaccination  institution, 
which  the  world  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  if 
possible.  Whereas,  the  true  idea  of  a  Christian 
Church  is  not  that ;  its  meaning  is  the  almoner 
of  God's  life-bread  to  the  world  ;  it  should  be  the 
grand  inspiring  tuitional  school  that  feeds  a  man  and 
lifts  his  nature  to  beauty,  purity  and  glory,  though 
there  were  no  such  possibility  as  perdition,  or  disease 
of  sin  in  the  universe.  We  break  religion  in  two, 
and  take  the  selfish  half  and  call  it  "  the  mercy  of 
God  to  us  miserable  sinners."  The  greatest  sin  we 
ever  commit  is  this  infraction  of  the  Divine  integrity, 
for  we  violate  our  own  integrity  in  doing  it. 
Churches  ought  to  be  the  most  attractive  places 
in  the  world,  vastly  more  so  than  the  theatre  or 
banqueting  -  hall.  And  they  would  be  if  rightly 
administered.  They  would  be  if  men  had  the  right 
conception  of  God,  and  of  a  human  soul,  and  that 
soul  were  up  to  the  development  of  the  spiritual 
sense,  and  the  joy  capacity,  and  open  to  the  highest 
inspiration  in  the  universe. 

It  is  perfectly  right  and  divine  for  a  man  to  live 
from  day  to  day  by  a  morsel  of  bread.  You  never 
hear  me  fling  disparagement  upon  the  good  things 
of  this  world,  upon  the  fading  beauties  of  the  hour 
even,  the  joyous  glee  of  children,  the  royal  day  of 
manhood.  But  man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone.  I 
am  talking  of  his  relation  to  God,  on  the  supposition 

12  * 


138  \R  AND  LOVE. 

that  if  he  die  he  shall   li  tin.     A  great  many 

times  men  have  not  anything  at  home  to  be  reli- 
giously interested  in  ;  their  development  is  small,  or 
lies  in  other  directions;  their  tastes  are  cultivated  on 
other  objects  —  right  enough  in  their  place,  but  they 
ire  not  the  whole  of  man;  they  mark  not  his  higher, 
noblest  opportunity.  If  there  is  anything  in  religion, 
anything  of  truth  in  God  —  this  is  the  great  matter 
of  existence.  Churches  are  for  men,  in  the  highest, 
truest  sense.  We  want  right  conceptions  of  God, 
right  conceptions  of  the  human  soul,  and  a  right 
idea  of  human  life  —  what  they  are  for,  these  passing 
days  of  opportunity  and  duty. 

Look  back,  then.  The  further  we  go,  the  more 
positively  we  strike  into  the  religion  of  fear.  The 
present  handles  religion  on  the  arena  of  intelligence 
greatly,  a  conflict  of  ideas.  The  religion  of  the 
future  will  come  out  in  the  victory  of  Love,  wherein 
heart  and  brain  shall  be  winner;  and  of  the  offspring 
thereof  there  shall  be  no  end.  Much  of  the  theology 
of  the  past  holds  no  thinking  man  or  woman  to-day  ; 
and  you  know  we  always  mean  by  theology,  what 
men  think,  what  they  guess,  what  they  quarrel  about. 
Religion  is  a  different  matter.  The  present  contest 
about  theology  is  this :  on  one  side,  whether  God  is 
nothing  but  reason;  and  on  the  other,  whether  there 
is  any  reasonable  God  at  all ;  reason  with  no  God, 
or  a  God  that  is  rational.  That  is  the  battle  of  mind. 
The  future  will  crown  both  the  God  and  the  reason; 
the  nuptials  will  be  recelebrated  of  a  wicked  divorce 
which  man,  in  his  short-sightedness  and  in  his  dark- 


GET  RIGHT  CONCEPTIONS  OF  GOD.  I  39 

ness  of  fear  and  error  has  caused.  The  fire  of  the 
higher  nature  shall  kindle  the  fuel  of  the  lower,  and 
the  flame  shall  be  worship  immortal.  Then  the  new 
heavens  and  the  new  earth  will  appear,  and  there 
shall  be  salvation. 

Get  worthy  conceptions  of  God,  then ;  obtain 
worthy  conceptions  of  man ;  seek  for  right  concep- 
tions of  human  life ;  and  especially,  if  possible  to 
specialize,  fire  yourself  with  a  right  and  powerful 
conception  of  what  it  is  possible  for  you  to  be. 
Growth  in  wisdom  is  the  great  business  of  life  and 
religion ;  growth  in  the  wisdom  of  the  text  is  the 
path  to  heaven.  To  know  God  rightly  is  inevitably 
to  confide  in  Him  —  that  is  faith.  To  be  won  by 
God  is  just  to  answer  back  from  our  love  unto  the 
love  that  He  gave,  first  loving  us.  That  love  is  wor- 
ship.    Therein  is  salvation. 

Let  me  repeat :  fear  hath  torments  ;  he  that  feareth 
is  not  made  perfect ;  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear. 
More  and  more  is  your  love  casting  out  fear,  if  you 
have  the  true  kind ;  and  at  last  fear  will  have 
perished. 

When  the  fruit  is  ripe,  the  fairest  blossom  must 
fall ;  the  rough  spring  winds  are  all  over,  and  the 
gathering  time  is  at  hand.  When  the  Zion  of  human- 
ity shall  sing,  as  she  certainly  will  sing,  that  will  be 
the  time  in  which  her  bondage  and  her  dark  trepida- 
tions shall  have  ended. 

Only  two  more  thoughts.  First,  have  such  con- 
ception of  your  God  as  shall  win  your  love  of  Him, 
or  you  cannot  love   Him;  secondly,  live  such  a  life 


140  FEAR  AND  L01  J  . 

yourself  as  not  to  be  afraid  of  Him,  or  you  cannot 
worship  Him.  Gather  right  and  inspiring  ideas  of 
his  character,  then  make  your  own  character  con- 
form to  that. 

Thus  you  will  build  not  on  hell,  but  on  the  foun- 
dations of  heaven  ;  and  the  gates  of  darkness  and 
disaster  shall  not  prevail  against  you. 


IX. 

THE  WORTH  OF  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  APPROPRI- 
ATE  TREATMENT 

What  is  a  ?nan  profited  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?  or 
what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for 
his  soul? —  Matthew  xvi.  26. 

THESE  are  great  words.  They  throb  with  un- 
speakable meaning.  Evidently  they  are  great 
in  that  they  come  home  directly  to  the  main  question 
of  religion,  of  life,  of  man. 

The  value  of  the  soul  is  taken  up  here.  A  propo- 
sition handling  its  worth  is  thrown  upon  our  thought. 
The  implication  is,  there  can  be  no  perfect  equation 
where  the  soul  is  one  member.  "  Though  a  man 
gain  the  whole  world,"  which  means  everything, 
"and  lose  his  soul,"  where  is  his  profit?  The  silent 
answering  must  be,  nothing;  nay,  more,  he  is  de- 
frauded. 

Men  get  the  eye  open  sometimes  afterward  in- 
stead of  beforehand ;  and  the  backward  look  is  not 
half  so  profitable  as  the  foresight  would  have  been. 
So  the  question  comes  up,  What  would  a  man  give 
to  regain  his  soul  ?  for  that  is  the  spirit  of  the  ques- 
tion. What  would  he  not  give  ?  puts  it  more  forcibly. 
Alas  !  what  can  he  give,  if,  possessing  all  things,  that 
is  but  a  mote  in  the  balance  of  its  value  ?  The  soul 
is  beyond  price.     I  take  it  as  we  have  it.     I  know 

141 


14-  THE  WoK III  OF  THE  SOUL. 

that  is  not  the  exact  literal  form  of  the  question. 
Throwing  it  into  the  optative  mood,  giving  man  the 
choice,  possibly  the  strict  thought  is,  Has  man  any- 
thing left  which  he  can  add  to  the  price  he  sold  his 
soul  for? 

Three  thoughts  here  come  practically  upon  the 
mind:  First,  salvation  is  a  work;  secondly,  a  work 
on  and  for  the  soul ;  thirdly,  it  consists  of  what  we 
make  of  the  soul  by  that  work.  The  logic  you  will 
see  in  the  next  verse ;  for,  says  the  great  Teacher, 
"  The  son  of  man  shall  come,  and  then  he  shall 
reward  every  man  according  to  his  works."  What, 
says  one,  are  works  a  foundation  on  which  to  build 
the  rewards  of  heaven  ?  Just  read  the  verse  again  : 
"  The  son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father,  and  then  he  shall  reward  every  man  according 
to  his  works."     Such  was  Christ's  opinion,  at  least. 

Put  in  a  single  sentence,  the  truth  is  thus  :  The  soul 
is  saved  so  far  as  it  is  treated  according  to  the  doctrine 
of  its  nature  and  necessities. 

The  Christian  world  is  changing  front.  Instead 
of  facing,  as  for  the  centuries,  toward  cloisters,  and 
monasteries,  and  castles,  and  cobwebs  glittering  in 
the  sky,  Christianity  is  fronting  toward  man,  toward 
life,  toward  humanity  or  the  soul.  Faith  and  intelli- 
gence are  turning  their  back  upon  the  former  things 
of  man,  while  in  doing  that  we  come  face  foremost 
to  the  first  things  of  God. 

Hence  the  modern  drift  of  thought.  The  thinking 
we  get  now,  somehow  or  other,  right  or  wrong,  is 
toward  the  humanitarian  point.     This  drift  is  toward 


DRIFTING   TOWARDS  THE  PRACTICAL.      1 43 

fact  instead  of  speculation ;  more  toward  psychology 
than  theology;  for  theology  man  makes,  while 
psychology  God  makes.  As  time  goes  on  the  mind 
grinds  itself  down  deeper  and  deeper,  and  more  and 
more  directly  on  to  the  hard  pan  of  truth  and  fact  in 
place  of  speculation ;  of  science  or  certainty,  rather 
than  guess  or  mere  hypothesis,  waxing  and  advanc- 
ing continually,  while  the  counterview  which  grounds 
in  mere  opinion,  is  waning.  Everything  in  every 
way  is  tending  and  drifting  toward  the  practical 
and  actual,  and  away  from  the  speculative  and  hypo- 
thetical. I  cannot  stop  it,  you  cannot  stop  it.  Wis- 
dom would  seek  rather  to  gather  up  the  reins  and 
guide  the  movement,  than  find  fault  and  block  the 
wheels  of  the  advancing  chariot. 

Salvation,  then  —  if  we  go  by  the  New  Testament 
and  its  spirit  —  means  the  soul  evolved,  developed, 
educated,  cultivated,  grown,  ripened  and  perfected. 
Final  maturity  is  the  saved  state.  The  method 
thereof  and  thereto  is  the  zvay  of  salvation. 

This  means  the  growth  and  the  maturity  of  every 
department  of  our  being.  If  you  leave  out  any  one, 
of  course,  there  is  trouble.  I  have  no  quarrel  with 
men  who  contend  that  mere  development  or  evolu- 
tion alone  is  not  religion.  But,  including  the  whole 
of  man's  being,  what  have  they  to  say  ?  The  develop- 
ment of  his  intelligent  nature,  the  development  of 
his  moral  nature,  the  development  of  his  spiritual 
nature,  the  development  of  every  power,  faculty,  func- 
tion and  capacity  in  him,  touching  this  life  and  the 
life    to    come,   touching    himself  and    touching    his 


144  THE   WORTH  OF  THE  SO VI . 

Maker,  waking  up  the  entire  man  under  divine  in- 
spiration, whether  in  this  Book  or  any  book,  out  of 
the  heavens  or  out  of  the  earth  — what  have  we  to 
object?  All  grand,  all  potent  inspirations  and  stimu- 
lations are  for  the  sake  of  piercing  and  penetrating 
this  very  normal  acorn  of  being,  with  reference  to 
unfolding  it  and  bringing  it  to  final  oakhood  —  the 
germ  to  the  finished  crown  of  glory. 

You  will  notice  —  for  I  hear  the  footfall  of  your 
whispering  criticism  —  all  this  must  be  by  proper 
methods.  You  may  develop  man's  being  as  a  whole, 
or  in  the  line  of  some  specific  faculty  or  function. 
For  instance,  put  man  into  a  university,  and  you  de- 
velop him  intellectually,  leaving  all  the  rest.  Put 
him  into  a  school  of  art,  and  you  develop  him  aes- 
thetically; if  you  leave  him  there  you  save  but  a 
fragment  of  him.  Develop  him  morally,  and  you 
may  do  it  grandly,  strongly,  truly,  as  to  that  par- 
ticular department  of  his  being;  but  if  it  has  no  alli- 
ances, no  intelligence,  no  purpose,  no  sentiment,  all 
your  morality  will  be  a  limping,  deformed  and  fettered 
thing,  a  dwarf,  a  monstrosity.  You  sometimes  find 
a  man  all  conscience,  nothing  else  ;  therefore  no  con- 
science at  all  that  has  any  practical  worth  in  it.  De- 
veloped in  the  proper  method,  however,  and  matured 
according  to  that,  salvation  results  and  consists  in 
that  maturity. 

I  mean  by  this  method,  of  course,  a  grand  sketch 
and  economy  of  culture,  born  in  the  conception  of  a 
Being  vastly  superior  to  the  being  to  be  educated.  I 
mean  a  method  of  training  and  development  sketched 


GOHS  IMAGE  IN  THE  SOUL.  145 

on  a  scale  as  broad  as  all  the  outlying  possibilities  of 
man's  nature  ;  and  when  you  have  that,  you  have  the 
scale  of  his  creation,  which  is  the  scale  of  his  redemp- 
tion, his  immortality,  his  spirituality,  his  goodness, 
his  salvation.  Man  trained  and  grown  under  these 
high  conceptions,  inspirations  and  methods,  will  un- 
fold symmetrically.  All  there  is  in  him  will  be  chal- 
lenged forth,  and  gathered  up  —  will  be  saved  instead 
of  being  wasted  or  lost. 

That  is  the  idea  of  salvation.  No  other  scheme 
of  religion  ever  spoke  of  it  so  fully  and  distinctly  as 
the  Christian;  and  because  of  this  superiority  of  the 
Christian  religion,  it  has  this  universality  in  it.  It 
is  adequate,  exhaustive. 

Thus  we  cannot  but  perceive  the  image  of  God 
which  sleeps  in  us.  This  type  of  God  —  for  we  are 
his  children  —  is  just  starting  in  us  like  a  waking 
dream,  a  shadow  passing  more  and  more  into  sub- 
stance through  training  and  maturity.  At  last  we 
shall  be  like  God.  Why  not  ?  If  the  child  is  true, 
and  reaches  the  term  stipulated  for  in  its  parentage, 
will  it  not  be  like  the  parent  ?  But  you  are  startled, 
perhaps,  that  I  make  man  like  God ;  and  you  say,  we 
shall  be  lesser  gods.  Certainly;  nothing  startling 
in  that.  The  startling  thought  is  that  we  should  fall 
short  of  that ;  that  we  should  lack  the  certificate  of 
our  original  at  last;  that  we  should  go  up  maimed  and 
half  finished,  bereaved,  and  somehow  lacking  in  some 
grand  feature  or  main  element  in  completion.  The 
difference  between  you  and  your  Maker  is  to  be  a 

difference  of  degree.     He   is  infinite,  you  are  finite; 
13  K 


I46  THE  WORTH  Oh   THE  SOUL . 

He  is  Life  itself,  you  are  a  recipient  of  life  from  Him  ; 
you  bear  his  image  for  that  very  reason.  You  are 
but  a  spark  struck  off  here  to  be  kindled  into  a  flame 
of  glory.  You  are  a  dark  unconscious  image  or  out- 
line, to  be  awakened  into  a  fact  divine.  So  we  hesi- 
tate not  to  speak  of  Godliness  or  God-likeness  as 
pertaining  to  man.  The  whole  problem  of  Chris- 
tianity in  connection  with  our  souls  is  just  this,  that 
God  should  reproduce  Himself  in  us  ;  finite  as  He  is 
infinite;  pure  as  He  is  pure;  holy  as  He  is  holy; 
blessed  as  He  is  blessed.  When  crowned  in  char- 
acter with  the  fullness  and  sweetness  of  his  love,  then 
we  shall  be  finished.  Perfecting  the  soul  in  that  way, 
saves  it. 

Here,  then,  we  come  into  the  new  Kingdom,  the 
kingdom  of  spirit.  Who  knoweth  the  things  of  man 
but  the  spirit  that  is  in  man  ?  was  inquired  last  Sun- 
day. The  spiritual  Kingdom  is  maris  spirit  spiritual- 
ized by  God's  spirit.  This  sleeping  image  and  dream 
of  being  smitten  by  the  fire  of  inspiration  from  God's 
own  life,  is  that  which  swells  and  expands  and  grows 
and  bursts  forth  at  last,  throwing  out  leaf  and  branch, 
and  bloom  and  fruitage  divine.  This  is  the  kingdom 
of  souls,  minds,  constellated  thoughts,  virtues  and 
graces,  and  beatitudes  unspeakable. 

Right  here  in  this  interest  comes  in  the  church. 
The  church  is  to  be  a  kingdom-builder.  She  is  to 
an  industrial  organization  for  spiritual  edification, 
the  function  of  truth  ;  in  this  way  rearing  up,  edu- 
cating, developing  man's  nature,  waking  up  thought, 
the   deep  slumber   of  glory  and  immortality  in  us. 


RESULTS  OF  SOUL-DEVELOPMENT.  I47 

That  is  the  only  sense  in  which  the  church  is  a  sal- 
vation provision.  It  is  an  educational  force  that  is 
to  act  as  God's  summer  acts  upon  the  seed  in  the 
ground.  It  is  to  work  as  any  tuitional  power  works 
upon  undeveloped,  raw,  uneducated  material. 

Out  of  this  idea,  viz.,  soul  development,  the  saving 
of  the  soul,  flows  the  intellectual  culture  of  the  world. 
Read  the  history  of  the  world  and  you  will  find  that 
the  pathway  thereof  is  starred  by  triumphs,  just  in 
proportion  as  Christian  inspiration  has  been  per- 
mitted to  touch  the  intellect  and  life.  Science  is 
born,  laws  are  enacted,  civil  society  is  organized  in 
strength,  beauty,  and  purity,  just  in  proportion  as 
these  higher  methods  of  development  and  education 
seize  the  living  spirit  of  man,  his  whole  nature,  and 
handle  that  nature  according  to  its  laws. 

And  there  is  no  civilization  on  earth  that  will  stay, 
save  that  which  flows  from  just  this  fountain.  True 
civilization  is  nothing  but  the  spirit  of  man  devel- 
oped, purified,  adorned,  and  enthroned  over  his  ma- 
terial and  sensuous  circumstances.  Men  talk  of  ships 
and  universities;  they  speak  of  commerce  and  mate- 
rial thrift,  and  all  that,  as  constituting  civilization. 
But  eliminate  this  element  named  —  the  spiritual 
force  in  man,  led  to  its  possibilities  by  a  spirit  higher 
than  itself — and  the  whole  idea  collapses,  as  history 
tells  you,  and  man  is  a  failure. 

Let  us  come,  then,  by  way  of  illustration,  a  little 
nearer  to  the  practical  line  of  our  thought.  Man  is 
in  darkness  by  nature  ;  we  understand  that.  Life  is 
in  darkness.     O,  how  the  old  wisdom  shrieked  out 


148  THE   WORTH  OF  THE  SOUL. 

for  answers  to  the  great  questions  which  nothing  but 
new  morning-light  was  adequate  to  furnish  !  Reli- 
gion is  the  light  to  dispel  the  darkness;  a  light  in 
which  man  sees  himself;  a  light  in  which  he  is  to 
see  his  way,  knowing  one  thing  from  another.  Sup- 
e  a  man  turn  his  eye  away  from  the  abyss,  and 
from  the  pathway,  and  gaze  at  nothing  but  light; 
peer  into  the  sun;  spend  his  grand  hour  of  opportu- 
nity in  speculation  about  the  constituent  elements 
of  the  luminous  orb,  how  they  have  come  together 
to  constitute  the  sun  ;  how  rays  act  on-  vision,  their 
chemical  properties,  mechanical  and  vital.  Suppose 
he  spend  his  time  analyzing  the  beauties  of  light, 
and  writing  down  tables  giving  statements  in  books 
of  what  he  has  discovered,  or  thought,  or  guessed, 
or  imagined,  as  to  the  constituency  of  light,  or  its 
powers,  what  it  can  do,  or  be,  or  what  it  was  de- 
signed to  do.  Why,  the  poor  organ  of  vision  itself 
would  be  dazzled  to  blindness,  while  the  man  would 
be  left  to  tread  his  way  in  darkness.  He  would  be 
just  as  liable  to  go  wrong  as  right.  Christendom 
has  been  full  of  star-gazers,  sun-gazers;  full  of  specu- 
lative, analytic  faith  on  light,  and  what  light  has  done 
and  should  do.  Should  you  never  look  at  the  sun 
at  all,  if  you  knew  nothing  of  its  constitution,  you 
could  use  the  sun  for  what  it  shines  for,  namely,  the 
discernment  of  objects  revealed  thereby.  And  the 
great  object  revealed  by  religion  to  you  and  me 
is,  our  nature,  the  soul,  and  the  course  it  has  to  take 
to  reach  its  glorious  end. 

There   came  a  time   once,  and  shortly  after    the 


RELIGION  A  LIFE,  NOT  MERE  BELIEF.       1 49 

advent  of  Christianity,  when  the  mind  was  actually- 
blinded  in  this  way.  Very  soon  the  Christian  fathers 
were  so  wrapped  in  lunar  speculations,  or  stellar  cal- 
culations, or  solar  computations,  as  to  the  high  sky 
of  religion,  that  they  forgot  man.  The  poor  thing 
called  the  soul,  was  in  darkness ;  and  the  cold,  damp 
cavern  in  which  it  lay,  bred  worms  that  crawled  over 
it  and  gnawed  away  its  life.  Corruption  rioted  there 
while  the  teachers  of  religion  were  star-gazing,  and 
giving  new  tabular  arrangements  and  formulated 
statements  of.  the  constituents  of  things  beyond  the 
clouds.  Then  faith  was  all ;  the  mind  must  believe 
so  and  so,  as  they  wrote  it,  or  be  damned ;  while  the 
poor  soul  was  rotting  in  the  damnation  of  falseness 
and  neglect!  If  the  light  in  such  wisdom  be  dark- 
ness, how  great  is  that  darkness ! 

Religion  is  a  life  as  well  as  a  light.  The  beam  has 
warmth  in  it,  the  shining  ray  is  full  of  fire.  The  sun 
of  nature  in  God's  economy  was  designed  to  make 
the  summer  for  the  earth.  Suppose  a  farmer  to  go 
forth  and  say,  I  am  a  husbandman  ;  I  can  do  nothing. 
The  summer  is  all,  and  works  are  nothing  with  me. 
So  he  gazes  at  the  sun,  and  believes  in  the  sun  ;  he 
goes  to  his  books  which  wise  men  have  written 
about  the  sun,  the  velocity  of  light,  the  intensity  of 
heat,  the  luminousness  of  the  ray,  and  what  is  in  the 
sun  and  around  it,  and  says :  Every  word  of  it  / 
believe.  Credo,  credo,  crcdimus.  I  believe  ;  we  all 
believe.  But  where  is  the  corn  ?  where  is  the  wheat  ? 
where  is  the  harvest  of  this  believing  husbandman? 
Had  he  never  known  anything  of  these  speculative 


'3* 


150  THE   WORTH  OF  TL  7L. 

inquiries,  the  corn  and  the  wheat  would  have  grown  ; 
and  true  to  his  own  powers  and  opportunities,  his 
land  would  have  yielded  her  abundant  increase.  So 
the  faithful  and  obedient  soul  yields  its  resources, 
and  grows  and  ripens  into  salvation. 

There  came  a  time  once,  when  the  world  made 
just  this  mistake.  Craft  and  convenience  and  greed 
of  power  came  to  religion  and  the  Church,  and  said, 
Let  us  have  a  compromise.  And  the  hand  of  the 
heavenly  took  the  tainted  hand  of  the  earthly,  and 
Christ  and  Cajsar  were  one.  Old  Constantine  pre- 
sided at  the  marriage  of  the  priest  of  God  and  the 
priestess  of  the  devil,  and  the  nuptials  are  celebrated 
to  this  day.  Doctors  of  divinity,  doctors  of  law, 
teachers  of  churches  spun  fine  cobwebs  of  divinity, 
so  called,  fine  threads  of  speculation,  and  the  propo- 
sition was  :  O  church,  O  Divinity,  if  you  will  spin 
religion  on  these  cloister  spinning-wheels  of  specu- 
lation, we  will  run  the  man  and  the  world  ;  we  will 
manage  the  soul  and  make  the  character.  And  it 
was  agreed  to.  And  down  beneath  the  shadow  of 
old  cathedrals  to-day  lies  rotting  humanity,  the  price 
of  that  bargain.  Religion  was  to  believe  things 
said,  things  taught  by  men.  Religion  must  not  have 
any  work,  any  faith  or  scope  in  man's  nature  or  in 
man's  soul.  Dead  works,  indeed  !  Which  kind  of 
works  is  best,  think  you,  live  works  on  live  men,  or 
dead  works  on  dead  speculations?  One  is  forbidden 
by  the  Book,  the  other  is  enjoined  to  the  extent  that 
so  far  as  you  work  out  your  own  salvation  in  this 
life-work,  you  shall  be  saved.     While  cobwebs  breed 


THE  GREAT   WORK  NEGLECTED.  I  5  I 

asthma,  consumption  and  death,  religion  is  a  light,  a 
life,  a  work  on  the  soul,  as  we  have  affirmed  it.  The 
husbandry  is  there ;  the  development  there ;  the  evo- 
lution there ;  moral,  spiritual,  beauteous,  gracious ; 
O  how  beautiful ! 

I  was  struck  the  other  day  by  a  grand  thought 
just  in  this  line,  from  one  of  the  grandpst  essayists 
as  well  as  historians  in  Europe.     I  will  read  it : 

Many  a  hundred  sermons  have  I  heard  in  England ;  many 
a  dissertation  on  the  mysteries  of  faith,  on  the  divine  mission 
of  the  clergy,  on  apostolic  succession,  on  bishops,  and  justifi- 
cation, and  verbal  inspiration,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  sacra- 
ments ;  but  never  during  these  thirty  wonderful  years,  never 
one  that  I  can  recollect  on  common  honesty,  or  those  primitive 
commandments :  Thou  shalt  not  lie  ;  Thou  shalt  not  steal. 
All  that  Christianity  was  meant  to  do  in  making  life  pure,  was 
left  undone  ;  while  teachers  gave  themselves  to  spinning  theo- 
logical cobwebs. 

Thus  in  place  of  the  old  material  idolatr  we  erect  a  new 
idolatry  of  words  and  phrases.  Our  duty  is  no  longer  to  be 
true  and  honest  and  brave  and  self-denying  and  pure,  but  to 
be  exact  in  our  formulas  ;  to  hold  accurately  some  nice  propo- 
sition ;  to  place  damnation  in  straying  a  hair's  breadth  from 
some  symbol  which  exults  in  being  unintelligible,  and  salva- 
tion in  the  skill  with  which  the  mind  can  balance  itself  on 
some  intellectual  tight-rope. 

So  that  all  that  Christianity  was  meant  to  do  in  making  life 
pure  and  noble,  is  left  undone  ;  while  teachers  give  themselves 
to  spinning  theological  cobwebs  and  building  speculative 
castles  in  the  air. 

Thus  says  the  royal  man.  Brave  words,  indeed, 
to  be  spoken  in  Old  England;  but  no  braver  than 
true. 

This  great  matter  we  are  all  to  look  in  the  face. 


I  5  2  THE   W0R1 H  <  >/■    / HE  Si >/  /  . 

The  world  has  outlived  the  cobweb  dynasty  and 
economy.  The  cloister  is  drifting  away  into  dim 
vistas,  so  far  as  it  ever  thought  it  meant  man  or  God. 
The  thought  of  the  hour  is  coming  directly  to  the 
man,  and  into  man  and  his  nature,  into  the  grandeur 
of  his  neglected  soul.  Very  early  it  was  that  Chris- 
tendom sought  a  divorce  of  religion  from  morality 
—  of  what  is  called  religion  from  actual  manhood  in 
life.  This  is  the  tendency  always.  It  was  and  is 
the  course  of  the  whole  heathen  world.  This  very 
fact  explains  all  religious  revolutions,  and  many 
other  revolutions,  from  the  fact  that  that  state  of 
things  is  a  falsity;  the  nature  of  man  in  its  normal 
originality,  being  truer  to  God  than  any  speculation 
of  man  on  its  abnormal  wanderings  ;  and  it  will  in- 
variably seek  to  rally  and  assert  itself,  when  the 
falsity  becomes  so  towering  and  so  oppressive  that  it 
can  be  borne  no  longer. 

Just  look,  in  this  country — I  refer  to  the  mat- 
ter with  perfect  respect — look  into  the  Episcopal 
Church  to-day.  What  is  the  matter  there  ?  Why, 
Luther  sleeps  in  human  nature.  The  poor,  mute, 
suppressed  reformer  is  in  the  soul,  and  cannot  brook 
delay  much  longer.  Mow  is  it  with  old  Catholic 
Europe?  Grand  conventions  are  organized;  what 
for?  The  world  has  outlived  the  old  speculations. 
The  world  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  mere 
water  effects  no  change  whatever  in  character, 
whether  it  come  down  upon  a  man  in  a  shower  of 
heaven,  or  is  applied  at  the  tips  of  a  bishop's  fingers. 
A  man   is  to  be  rewarded  hereafter  and  here,  at  the 


BE  NOT  AFRAID  OF  WORKS.  I  53 

tribunal  of  righteousness,  according  to  his  soul-work 
—  according  to  what  he  makes  of  himself  as  a  man 
in  the  ways  of  manhood,  integrity,  industry,  and 
fidelity.  Old  Europe  to-day  recognizes  that  there  is 
a  bigger  Luther  in  her  at  this  very  hour,  than  nailed 
the  theses  to  the  doorposts  at  Wittenberg.  And 
you  cannot  stay  these  things.  My  admonition  is  : 
be  not  found  in  conflict  with  nature  or  Providence  ; 
but  be  men  with  eyes  in  front,  and  with  ears  listen- 
ing Godward. 

Now  don't  imagine  that  I  have  turned  away  from 
the  gospel  by  turning  to  works  which  the  gospel 
enjoins.  Don't  suppose  we  forsake  God,  and  Christ, 
and  Paul,  and  the  evangelists,  because  we  turn  to  the 
soul,  and  try  to  save  it  in  the  only  way  in  which  sal- 
vation has  any  intelligible  meaning.  We  only  turn 
from  speculations,  as  you  must  see.  The  Gospel 
looks  directly  to  man,  to  humanity,  to  the  soul,  or 
human  nature.  Don't  be  afraid  of  works.  No  soul 
is  ever  saved  any  further  than  it  works  out  its  own 
salvation,  according  to  the  God-inspiration  working 
in  it.  The  works  we  are  warned  against  are  the  cob- 
web works,  the  ritual  works,  in  such  organization 
and  institution  of  religion  as  is  supposed  to  stand 
only  to  be  believed.  It  is  not  faith  in  a  machine 
that  accomplishes  anything;  but  the  use  of  the  ma- 
chine—  its  application.  Works  of  mercy — works 
of  purity,  gentleness,  faith,  honesty,  manliness,  wo- 
manliness, and  of  all  the  grandeur  and  beauty  and 
splendor  of  all  human  capacities,  are  what  the  wait- 
ing hunger  of  God  looks  for.     The  stimulation,  the 


154  THE    WORTH  Of    THE  SOUL. 

growth,  the  ripening  of  all  these,  make  the  finished 
man.  A  cup  of  cold  water  given  to  a  poor  Chicago 
sufferer,  is  infinitely  more  divine  and  valuable  in  this 
matter  of  salvation,  than  all  the  theological  cobhouses 
and  monastic  tapestries  that  were  built  or  woven 
from  the  fourth  century  to  the  fourteenth.  And  you 
must  know  that  right  to  those  centuries  we  are  often 
told  we  must  go  now  for  our  doctrines  and  our 
creeds.  Those  great  religious  structures  we  are  ex- 
pected to  look  at,  and  to  agree  to  believe;  while  a> 
directly  we  are  expected  to  neglect  our  own  souls, 
and  forget  the  nature  God  gave  us.  "  Lord  !  Lord  !" 
never  saved  anybody.  Have  we  not  believed  this 
and  that  and  the  other  ?  Cries  never  save.  But  the 
doing  and  being  always  save.  Do  those  things  and 
you  shall  never  fall. 

Man  must  be  cultivated,  then.  1  le  must  be  trained. 
1  lis  soul  must  be  cared  for.  God  has  planted  it  here 
in  the  garden  of  time  and  opportunity.  God's  Church 
means  responsibility  and  fidelity  to  the  soul  in  its 
great  culture.  He  has  given  the  summer  and  the 
sunshine.  He  has  pledged  the  dew  and  the  air  and 
everything.  We  must  pledge  industry.  Thus  we 
present  our  theme. 

Think,  then,  O  soul,  what  wealth  sleeps  within 
thee  !  What  a  grand  thought  it  is :  "I  am  a  being 
in  the  image  of  God!"  A  mere  conception  of  the 
possibilities  that  lie  nascent  within  you,  stirs  aspira- 
tion and  royal  endeavor!  Think  what  environment, 
what  surroundings,  what  divine  summer,  what  gird- 
ing   helpers,    what    flocking   allies,    from    sky,    from 


A  BEAUTIFUL   THING  IS  LITE.  I  55 

earth,  from  God,  wait  to  lift  and  crown  you  !  Think 
what  divineness  sleeps  within  thee,  O  soul,  bearing 
the  image  of  the  Maker !  What  empty  capacities, 
what  waiting  scope  and  scale  of  being  to  be  filled 
out,  to  be  realized  by  that  fidelity  which  refuses  to 
take  any  price  for  the  soul,  or  itself!  —  which  so  han- 
dles the  soul  as  to  hold  true  to  the  estimate  that 
Christ  put  upon  it.  It  ceases,  however,  when  it  falls 
from  its  native  scale,  and  is  false  to  the  injunctions 
of  the  opportunity  of  its  birth. 

Then  think  what  a  beautiful  thing  life  is !  How 
I  rejoice  in  life  every  day,  more  and  more !  Think 
what  a  fine  life  every  soul  may  live !  Think  what 
beautiful  thoughts,  what  beautiful  feelings,  what 
grand  sentiments,  what  high  and  glorious  outlooks, 
we  may  come  to  be  crowned  with  !  Think  what 
inspirations  may  lift  us  in  the  still  morning  hour,  in 
the  still  night  hour !  Think  what  grand  girdings  of 
fellowship  flock  invisibly,  inaudibly,  around  every 
soul  that  is  true  to  itself,  remembering  its  origin, 
remembering  its  destiny !  Life,  life !  Think  of  it 
again,  O  ye  who  are  flitting  out  of  it,  with  souls 
swelling  and  bursting  like  spring  buds,  or  withering 
and  shrivelling  and  perishing  like  flowers  broken 
from  their  stems ! 

Day  comes  out  of  night ;  so  does  the  soul  saved. 
Harvests  ripen  from  spring  seeds ;  so  do  souls  under 
proper  culture.  The  ore  holds  the  precious  metal 
which,  when  crushed,  yields  the  pure  diadem  to 
sparkle  forever ;  so  does  the  soul  under  God.  It  has 
no  equivalent  out  of  itself,  save  God ;  and  God  who 


156  THE   WORTH  OF  THE  SOUL. 

is  its  superior,  not  its  equivalent,  cannot  come  into 
commercial  relations.  God  never  sells  Himself  or 
his  benefactions.  No  soul  can  find  any  substitute  as 
an  equivalent  Ideas  of  this  sort  breed  confusion 
never  set  down  in  the  Divine  economy.  There  is 
no  price  for  the  soul.  Not  even  Divinity  stands  in 
commercial  relations  to  it. 

The  soul,  to  be  saved  by  the  Christian  religion, 
must  be  Christed  in  character.  The  soul,  to  be  saved 
by  the  religion  of  God,  must  be  made  like  God  in 
character.  And  when  it  is  so  changed,  when  it  is  so 
born  again,  there  is  wrought  and  certified  in  it  the 
fitness  of  heaven.  Heaven  is  its  own  palace ;  it  be- 
comes its  own  temple,  its  own  mansion  not  made 
with  hands,  to  be  eternal  in  the  heavens. 


X. 

SALVATION—  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  VIEW. 


What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  —  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  xvi.  20. 

IF  you  go  into  New  York,  or  any  of  the  great 
cities  of  the  world,  and  seek  to  get  a  full  and 
true  view  of  any  remarkable  street,  you  will  stand 
first  on  one  side  and  look  upon  the  other;  then  cross 
over  and  take  the  opposite  position,  and  observe 
what  confronts  you  there.  Thus  you  get  a  complete 
view  of  the  street. 

So  with  thought.  One-sided  views  are  never  whole 
views.  In  the  midst  of  right  and  wrong,  truth  and 
error,  we  can  never  understand  the  right  fully  until 
we  understand  what  is  not  right ;  we  can  never  un- 
derstand any  truth  or  error  so  well  as  when  we  have 
contemplated,  intelligently,  the  opposite  of  the  truth 
or  error. 

I  presented,  last  Sunday,  what  I  believed  to  be  the 
proper  idea  of  Gospel  salvation,  viz. :  the  truth  which 
Christ  taught,  so  applied  to  human  life  as  to  make 
man,  in  his  life  and  character,  Christ-like.  In  other 
words,  the  soul  educated,  grown,  ripened  and  per- 
fected ;  the  orderly  and  harmonious  development  of 
all  our  faculties ;  the  growth  and  maturity  of  every 
department  of  our  being  —  not  omitting,  of  course, 
the  due  subjection  and  subordination  of  the  selfish 
H  i57 


I  5  S    SA  LVA  TION  -  THE  I  >/.  />  ,  \ND  NEW  J  7/.  //'. 

propensities  of  our  nature.  This  final  maturity,  or 
this  developed,  well-balanced,  well-ordered,  Christ- 
like  condition  of  the  soul,  is  the  saved  state.  And 
the  method  thereof  is  the  way  of  salvation.  This  I 
said  in  my  last  Sunday's  discourse. 

But  there  is  another  view  or  theory  ;  and  it  is  old. 
I  don't  know  of  any  doctrine  much  older,  that  has 
been  ordained  and  authorized  by  the  church,  than 
this  which  I  propose  to  set  forth  this  morning.  I 
am  glad  to  have  you  know  this  other  view.  Indeed, 
you  know  it  already.  But,  as  I  said  at  the  outset,  it 
is  wonderfully  instructive  to  contemplate  opposites 
together. 

The  theory  of  salvation  that  we  will  state  this 
morning,  begins  with  the  idea  that  man  is  lost  in  the 
premises  of  his  nature ;  that  in  the  fall  of  the  sup- 
posed first  man  we  all  went  down  ;  and  there  we  are, 
to  begin  with.  It  is  assumed  in  the  outset  that  we 
are  sinners,  condemned,  and  liable  to  the  pains  of 
hell  forever;  and  the  more  dismal,  abject  and  vile 
the  picture  we  can  make  of  ourselves,  the  nearer  we 
are  supposed  to  be  to  Divine  truth  on  the  subject. 
Thus  all  the  world  lies  exposed  to  hell ;  and  the  re- 
frain of  most  of  the  praying  and  believing  of  Chris- 
tendom for  the  ages  between  us  and  the  advent  of 
Christ,  has  been  a  world,  generation  after  generation, 
rolling  on  like  billows  over  the  sea  to  darkness  and 
death.  I  don't  wonder  it  has  stirred  the  Christian 
heart  to  the  very  depths. 

Accordingly,  the  first  thing  to  be  done  in  this  way 
of  salvation,  is  to  become  convicted  of  this  terrible 


THE  OLD  THE  OR  V  OF  SALVA  TION.  I  59 

truth ;  not  only  somehow  to  know  it,  but  to  be 
burdened  by  a  sense  of  it.  The  next  thing  is  to  get 
a  conception,  vitally  in  the  mind  and  heart,  that 
Christ  died  for  us  ;  in  the  first  place  as  a  substituted 
sufferer  for  our  sufferings,  as  sin  in  place  of  our  sin  ; 
that  he  took  punishment  in  place  of  our  punishment, 
and  paid  our  debts.  And  in  the  second  place,  that 
by  that  death  he  has  so  appeased  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  paid  a  certain  penalty,  that  it  enabled  God  to 
exercise  forgiveness.  When  this  conviction  with 
regard  to  the  lost  condition  of  man,  and  with  regard 
to  Christ  and  what  he  has  done,  becomes  so  deep 
and  influential  as  to  become  an  experience,  the  be- 
liever is  said  to  be  converted ;  and  the  usual  course  is 
to  confess  it  by  joining  the  Church,  and  thus  gain  a 
putative  standing  among  the  saved.  That  is  salva- 
tion—  assumed  to  be  salvation.  Such  a  person  is 
spoken  of  as  in  a  hopeful  condition,  is  regarded  as 
among  the  children  of  God.  That  has  been  the  faith 
of  ages;  and  it  is  the  faith  of  millions  upon  millions 
to-day. 

Now,  based  upon  this  theory  of  salvation  as  to  the 
doctrinal  part  of  it,  we  find  a  corresponding  theory 
of  human  life  and  the  world.  We  all  know  how 
true  it  is  that  the  world,  under  this  view,  is  at  once 
placed  in  contrast  with  religion  ;  in  opposition  to  re- 
ligion; as  its  enemy,  the  enemy  of  souls,  hostile  and 
dangerous  to  salvation  ;  so  that  the  believer,  or  he 
who  hopes  for  salvation  on  this  ground,  is  admon- 
ished from  the  first  against  worldliness,  against  the 
vanity,  pomp   and  ways   of  the   world.     He  is  ad- 


160    SALVATION— THE   OLD  AND  NEW  VIEW. 

monished  that  his  salvation  is  imperiled  by  con- 
formity to  the  world.  He  is  exhorted  to  forsake  the 
world  and  flee  from  it ;  to  avoid  its  pleasures,  to 
separate  himself  from  its  interests,  to  drop  its  hot 
pursuits,  and  cultivate  no  longer  its  joys.  He  is 
urged  and  perpetually  charged  to  abstain  from 
worldly  gratifications,  as  if  it  were  dangerous  even 
to  desire  fine  houses,  or  extensive  lands,  to  tread 
upon  soft  carpets,  to  sport  rich  and  costly  equipages 
and  dress.  Wealth  is  set  forth  as  the  most  danger- 
ous and  subtle  of  all  foes  to  the  soul ;  so  fearful  is  its 
influence  for  evil,  that  the  impossibility  of  a  rich 
man's  entering  heaven  is  symbolized  by  a  camel 
going  through  a  needle's  eye. 

The  hopeful  soul,  under  this  theory  of  salvation, 
is  warned  from  first  to  last  against  the  vanity  of 
fashion  ;  he  is  never  expected  to  be  seen  at  the  opera, 
or  attending  concerts  ;  he  is  not  to  be  borne  about  in 
beautiful  carriages,  possess  costly  paintings,  travel, 
or  even  cultivate  fine  manners,  lest  he  become  not 
only  worldly,  but  wander  from  the  way  of  hope  and 
life.  The  convert  must  never  attend  nor  give  parties  ; 
he  must  not  enjoy  any  play  or  game;  the  dance  is 
the  unpardonable  sin;  and  the  charm  of  a  stringed 
instrument,  the  devil's  foremost. 

This,  you  see,  is  the  austere  view  of  religion  ;  it  is 
the  hard,  horny  way  of  being  saved  ;  it  is  the  gloomy, 
joyless  view.  It  is  this  view  which  makes  children 
so  dread  the  very  name  of  religion.  It  is  this  view 
which  makes  them  hate  to  go  away  from  their  plays, 
their  sports  and  their  young  gush  of  joy  which  the 


THE  AUSTERE   VIEW  OE  RELIGION.  l6l 

flowers  give  them,  and  the  music  of  streams  and  the 
glory  of  hills  offer  them,  into  the  unattractive  and 
joyless  exercises  of  religion.  They  hate  the  un- 
naturalness  of  it.  It  is  this  fact  which  makes  a  great 
deal  of  religion  irksome,  not  only  to  young  life,  but 
to  mature  life ;  this  view  it  is  which  makes  it  seem 
so  contrary  to  reason  and  common  sense.  The 
theory  itself  teaches  religion  to  be  against  nature, 
the  enemy  of  the  material  man,  and  the  natural  man 
the  enemy  of  it.  That  is,  to  be  natural  is  to  be  in 
danger  of  being  lost.  Hence  the  unnatural  tone  and 
manner,  assumed  a  great  many  times,  in  which  peo- 
ple talk  about  religion.  They  are  artificial,  unnatural, 
affected,  disguised.  So  that  it  is  very  observable, 
upon  a  change  of  subject,  how  marked  is  the  change 
of  manner  and  tone.  The  face  lights  up  like  sunrise, 
and  the  voice  rings  like  the  chime  of  bells.  They 
have  got  out  of  the  irksomeness  of  religion  into  what 
is  natural. 

I  will  venture  to  say  that  nine  out  of  ten  of  those 
here  to-day  have  had  this  experience  in  childhood. 
They  thought  they  must  do  and  be  so  and  so,  and 
the  more  unhappy  they  were  in  their  religion,  the 
better  the  sign  that  they  were  in  the  right  way.  A 
conscientious  child  once  justified  his  reading  of  a 
secular  book  on  Sunday,  by  saying:  "  It  makes  me 
feel  almost  as  bad  as  the  Bible  does."  Under  this 
view  the  reading  of  the  believer  is  properly  confined 
to  a  certain  cast  and  range  of  thought.  He  must 
read,  for  instance,  "  Allein's  Alarm  ;  "  "  Edwards  on 
the  Affections;"  "Baxter's  Saints'  Rest;"  "Baxter's 
14*  L 


162     SALVATION    -THE   OLD  AND  NEW  VIEW. 

Call  ;  "  and  books  of  that  sort,  canonized  and  sancti- 
fied by  the  faith  and  piety  of  ages  —  for  good  men 

and  women  have  believed  this  way. 

I  am  only  trying  to  state  the  doctrine,  not  judge  it. 
Prayer,    meditation,    self-denial,  self-contempt   to   a 

at  extent,  are  supposed  to  be  the  process  of  grace 
and  growth  in  knowledge  and  truth.  So  that  our 
hymns,  almost  every  one  of  them,  are  constructed 
on  this  basis  of  religion  : 

"  Look  how  we  grovel   here  below, 
Fond  of  these  earthly  toys ; 
Our  souls  can  neither  fly  nor  go 
To  reach  eternal  joys." 

No  joy  here.  It  is  the  refrain  of  a  lost  cause !  Al- 
most every  hymn  in  this  book  is  on  that  pitch.  It 
is  very  difficult  to  find  a  hymn  that  rings  out  of  a 
clear  bell  uncracked ;  the  true  voice  of  God,  the 
angels'  song  that  broke  out  upon  the  world  when 
light  and  victory  touched  it.  The  refrain  of  a  lost 
cause?  No,  never.  Christianity  is  not  the  procla- 
mation of  defeat,  but  of  a  grand  triumph.  Almost 
all  Christian  prayers  are  deprecatory.  Pick  up  any 
book  of  prayer  of  the  last  thousand  or  fifteen  hun- 
dred years,  and  that  is  the  key  upon  which  they  are 
pitched.  So  with  extempore  prayer  —  a  piteous  be- 
seeching; a  kind  of  lamentation  over  disaster  and 
doom.  The  refrain  is  of  the  same  kind  in  catechisms 
and  confessions. 

Now,  all  this  is  perfectly  consistent.  You  cannot 
find  in  any  book  of  logic  a  more  consistent  system 
of  thought  than  this  very  view  of  salvation  presents. 


WHA  T  CONSISTENC V  REQUIRES.  1 63 

It  is  framed  together  and  compacted  in  every  joint 
and  part.  There  are  no  loose  joints.  State  the 
premises,  and  the  conclusions  are  inevitable.  The 
scheme  hangs  together.  The  lost  condition  of  man — 
what  Christ  died  for  —  hostility  of  the  world  to  re- 
ligion, and  so  on  ;  it  is  all  a  consistent  whole.  To 
be  consistent,  the  believer  ought  not  only  to  quit 
the  world  and  its  follies,  but  its  pursuits,  its  gather- 
ing of  wealth,  its  dance  of  joy,  its  bloom  of  fields, 
its  sheen  of  skies,  its  song  of  life.  Secular!  secular! 
is  everywhere  written.  Dangerous !  Beware !  To 
be  consistent  he  has  no  right  to  enjoy  any  pleasure, 
any  pastime;  scarcely  may  he  smile.  He  has  no 
right  to  follow  the  fashion. 

O,  believing  man,  believing  woman,  you  break 
faith  with  yourself,  and  deny  the  force  of  what  you 
write  in  your  confessions,  if  you  follow  the  dance  of 
fashion  in  this  world ;  and  he  who  breaks  faith  with 
himself  and  with  his  creed,  cannot  hope  for  salva- 
tion that  way.  To  be  consistent,  the  believer  in  this 
view  has  no  right  to  a  minute's  rest.  Would  you,  had 
you  been  in  New  York  the  other  day  and  heard  the 
cries  of  the  servant-girls  in  the  fire,  have  felt  that  you 
had  any  right  to  be  lying  back  in  your  fine  carriage 
and  pass  along  unheeding  those  burning  victims  ? 
Could  you  allow  yourself  to  tarry  a  minute  ere  you 
should  rush  to  the  rescue  ?  Would  you  not  even 
imperil  your  own  life?  Would  you  be  a  man  if  you 
didn't  do  that?  But  are  you  any  more  of  a  man, 
when  you  stand  up  in  solemn  sincerity  and  subscribe 
your  faith  to  a  belief  that  the  whole  world,  not  only 


[64     SALVATION— THE  <>//>  AND  NEW  VIEW. 


by  night  but  by  day,  is  on  fire,  and  souls  arc  rolling 
by  the  billows  of  the  generation  into  endless  burn- 
ings at  last,  .md  yet  believing  this,  ride  easily  along 
in  decorous  unconcern?  Do  you  call  such  believing 
and  such  doing  consistency?  I  don't  say  you  do.  I 
am  only  interpreting  this  view  of  saving  souls.  We 
ought  to  be  up  and  sounding  the  alarm,  every  one  of 
us,  if  things  arc  so.  And  I  honor  the  consistency 
of  those  fanatics  who  are  consistent  enough  to  do  it. 
And  if,  instead  of  doing  it  a  week  or  two  in  a  year, 
they  would  do  it  the  whole  year  round,  I  would 
honor  them  fifty-two  times  as  much  as  I  do.  If  this 
theory  is  right,  then  the  ages  have  been  right,  and 
the  old  monastics  were  right,  the  monks  and  the 
hermits  were  all  right,  in  abjuring  the  world  and 
extirpating  one  half  of  their  nature  for  the  sake  of 
saving  the  other  half.  They  proved  their  belief  by 
their  works,  and  turned  their  backs  upon  life,  its 
beauties  and  its  joys,  for  the  sake  of  a  life  to  come. 
This  is  the  theory. 

How  now  about  the  facts?  Let  us  look  at  this 
church,  or  any  church  in  the  world.  Do  church- 
members  act  as  if  they  so  believed  ?  Does  anybody 
act  as  if  he  believed  it?  You  say,  no.  But  I  say 
they  profess  to  believe  it,  and  what  shall  we  conclude  ? 
It  is  in  their  doctrinal  books.  I  have  heard  it  in 
Milwaukee,  as  elsewhere.  But  believing  the  doctri- 
nal part  of  it,  do  they  take  the  other  part?  Do  they 
turn  away  from  the  world?  Do  they  abstain  from 
its  pleasures  ?  Do  they  not  build  fine  houses  ?  Have 
they  no  anxiety  for  life  —  I   mean  the  believers  in 


PRACTICE  CONTRADICTING   THEORY.  1 65 

this  very  theory?  Are  they  not  seen  at  the  opera? 
Care  they  nothing  about  fashions,  think  you  ?  I  am 
speaking  of  the  consistency  and  integrity  of  the  mat- 
ter; of  the  question  whether  we  affirm  or  deny  in 
our  practice,  what  we  assert  in  our  professions  and 
belief.      Let  us  look  further. 

Every  man,  every  woman  we  see  in  the  church 
and  out  of  church,  is  industrious,  devoted  to  some 
business,  some  useful  pursuit  in  life;  interested  in 
making  money,  in  building  houses,  in  having  fine 
homes,  in  the  latest  fashions;  loving  music,  loving 
pleasure,  loving  childhood  and  childhood's  glee  and 
joy,  —  one  as  well  as  another.  Do  you  see  any  of 
these  believers  —  these  saved  ones,  rushing  through 
the  streets  sounding  the  alarm  that  the  world  is  on 
fire  — going  to  hell?  Are  they  given  up  entirely 
to  self-denial  ?  Does  practice  look  as  if  theory  were 
a  matter  really  believed  at  heart? 

The  keen  observer  of  human  conduct  and  human 
motives  listens  to  the  exhortation  of  the  professedly 
saved  soul ;  exhorting  him  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come  ;  while  the  speed  of  this  very  exhorter,  perhaps, 
in  the  chase  after  this  world,  outstrips  the  coursers 
of  Dives.  The  little  child  sits  still  and  listens  to  the 
instructions  of  its  teacher.  The  bedecked  and  be- 
jeweled  believer  in  this  way  of  salvation,  set  off  to 
the  last  touch  of  fashion,  warns  the  little  life  to  avoid 
the  vanities  and  shows  of  this  world.  The  child  is 
not  old  enough  yet  to  stumble  over  the  inconsistency 
of  belief  and  practice;  but  by  and  by,  from  the  still 
nest  of  memory  a  sceptic  will  be  hatched,  who  will 


[66     SALVATION      ////    OLD  AND  NEW  VIE W. 

have  faith  in  no  religion  whatever.  Sanctimony  and 
cant  conic  of  necessity,  as  the  fruit  of  such  contra- 
diction.    They  cannot  be  avoided. 

Hut  in  all  this,  through  and  through,  you  will  find 
good  people  to  some  extent.  They  who  believe  one 
way  in  religion  and  practice  another,  if  they  are  not 
the  best,  are  not  the  worst  people  in  the  world. 
Some  oi  \\\o.  best  that  ever  lived  have  believed  just 
this  way  ;  but  their  goodness  did  not  come  from  their 
denying  in  their  life  what  they  confessed  in  their 
belief;  their  excellence  rooted  in  their  consistency. 
They  lived  out  what  they  believed  ;  and  we  had  bet- 
ter, vastly  better,  all  of  us,  have  a  true,  pure,  noble 
life,  though  we  have  mistaken  theories,  than  theories 
ever  so  sound,  and  lives  that  contradict  them. 

The  whole  matter  then  as  it  stands,  is  fraught  with 
very  instructive  considerations.  First,  if  any  belief 
be  essential  to  salvation,  there  can  be  no  salvation 
except  by  carrying  out  that  belief.  Secondly,  if  it  be 
right  in  God's  sight  to  live  in  this  world,  and  prose- 
cute the  interests  of  the  present  life,  then  no  belief 
can  be  right  inconsistent  with  that.  Thirdly,  such 
belief  and  such  practice  never  did  and  never  will  har- 
monize. No  matter  what  faith  one  may  hold,  as  long 
as  he  lives  there  is  a  setting  under-current  of  reason 
and  common  sense  that  will  make  him  a  child  of  this 
world  and  its  interests;  he  will  obey  the  laws  which 
God  has  ordained  over  his  own  being  and  over  the 
universe,  in  spite  of  speculative  theories  of  whatever 
kind.  Men  will  always  live  as  they  do,  only  better; 
that  is,  they  will  always  love  the  things  of  this  world; 


TROUBLE  FROM  FALSE  IDEAS.  1 67 

they  always  ought  to  ;  it  is  duty  to  enjoy  them  and 
give  God  thanks.  Any  profession  inconsistent  with 
that,  needs  itself  to  be  modified.  And  it  is  the  pres- 
sure of  this  inconsistency,  among  other  things,  that 
is  breaking  up  outlived  theories  of  religion,  and  that 
makes  the  commotion  of  thought,  conflict  and  confu- 
sion of  ideas,  in  the  religious  tides  of  the  times. 

Cut  a  man  in  two,  and  you  can't  make  either  half 
of  him  live.  Religion  cut  in  two,  half  theory  and 
half  practice,  each  contradicting  the  other,  is  death. 
That  is  precisely  what  St.  James  meant  by  faith 
without  works. 

The  trouble  comes  in  here.  In  the  first  place, 
from  false  ideas  of  God.  God  is  no  such  being  as  is 
represented  in  the  theory.  In  the  second  place,  from 
false  ideas  of  man.  There  is  not  a  man  who  believes 
such  vile  things  pertaining  to  himself  in  his  own 
heart.  False  ideas  with  regard  to  Christ  also,  are  to 
be  taken  into  account.  Christ  never  died  for  any 
such  purpose  as  the  theory  claims.  False  ideas  with 
regard  to  human  life  make  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 
Life  and  religion  must  never  be  contradictory  ;  they 
go  together.  Any  man  who  breeds  a  divorce  be- 
tween his  religion  and  life  must  be  wrong.  The 
trouble  comes,  too,  from  false  ideas  of  salvation. 
Salvation  consists  of  two  things,  the  curing  of  sin 
and  the  perfecting  of  nature.  Life  and  religion  must 
never  be  put  in  opposition.  What  saves  a  soul,  is  the 
application  of  truth  to  human  life  and  character  in 
such  a  way  as  to  create  righteousness  and  true  holi- 
ness. No  matter  about  theoretic  and  speculative 
views.     Men    hold    nameless    diversities    upon    this 


l68     SALVATION— THE  OLD    \ND  NEW  VIEW. 

matter;  but  the  one  question  of  a  Christly  character 
is  the  test  question  of  the  Christian  religion.  He 
who  is  best  in  his  character,  according  to  the  New 
Testament  standard,  is  the  best  saved  man. 

Never,  therefore,  try  to  work  religion  against 
reason  or  science  ;  you  work  God  against  Himself 
if  you  do.  Never  attempt  to  work  religion  against 
law;  you  work  the  very  ordinance  of  heaven  against 
its  own  enactments.  Never  attempt  to  work  religion 
against  humanity  ;  religion  is  humanity's  friend,  sent 
to  gather  it  up,  to  heal  its  hurts,  and  ripen  its  rawness. 
Never  attempt  to  handle  religion  contrary  to  life; 
make  them  go  together ;  bring  them  into  harmony. 
Never  set  Providence  against  religion  ;  true  religion 
is  always  in  the  channel  of  Providence,  and  her  voice 
and  her  ministry  are  God's  second.  Never  set  re- 
ligion against  common  sense  —  common  sense  which 
is  practical  sense  ;  and  the  most  practical  sense  and 
the  most  useful  sense  is  always  religious.  A  man's 
hope  of  salvation  is  worth  just  so  much  as  the  Gospel 
makes  him  worth  in  his  character.  Consistency  is 
among  the  heavenly  graces,  of  course  ;  but  professing 
one  way  and  doing  the  other,  docs  not  illustrate  that 
consistency. 

The  great  truth  is,  he  who  lives  right  will  be  sure 
to  die  right,  and  be  right  for  ever.  "  Whatsoever  one 
plantcth,  that  also  shall  he  reap."  Myriads  before 
any  theory  or  profession  was  thought  of,  rolled  up  to 
glory  over  the  sea  of  time,  because  they  forgot  not 
God,  and  lived  under  Him  according  to  the  best  light 
and  knowledge  of  their  daw 

God  meant  to  save  the  world  from  the  beginning. 


GOD  ALWAYS  SAVING  THE  WORLD.  1 69 

As  soon  as  He  began  it,  He  began  to  save  it.  The 
plan  for  doing  it  was  ordained  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world.  The  lambhood  of  God  was  then.  God 
has  been  saving  the  world  all  along.  He  has  never 
forgotten  it.  The  ages  have  been  in  this  interest ; 
all  history  is  but  a  record,  in  its  place  and  in  its  way, 
of  the  development  of  this  scheme  of  salvation. 
God  is  saving  the  world  now.  Whatever  builds  the 
finest  and  noblest  institutions,  is  a  power  co-working 
with  other  powers  in  this  line  of  salvation.  What- 
ever creates  the  highest  civilization,  is  exactly  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  problem.  Whatever  shall  create 
virtue  in  the  world,  purity  in  the  place  of  corruption, 
develop  truth  in  the  place  of  falsehood  and  darkness, 
works  in  the  line  of  salvation.  Whatever  produces 
the  truest  manhood,  is  sure  to  be  saving  in  the  scrip- 
tural sense.  Whatever  awakens  the  deepest  and 
grandest  in  our  nature,  and  brings  it  to  affiliation  with 
the  grandest  in  the  Divine  nature,  is  sure  to  set  the 
soul  on  the  way  of  salvation.  Whatever  shall  so 
fertilize  the  root  of  our  immortality  here  as  to  prompt 
its  growth,  looks  to  its  fruitage  in  the  life  everlasting, 
or  saves  the  soul. 

If  life,  then — if  the  institutions  of  life,  the  churches, 
the  faith  of  the  world,  would  just  grasp  these  great, 
comprehensive  truths,  they  would  all  be  doing  God's 
work  of  saving  the  world.  If  any  soul  here  so  be- 
lieves and  lives,  he  is  so  far  saved.  The  faith  in 
Christ  that  makes  the  life  Christ-like,  is  the  faith  in 
Him  that  saves ;  the  faith  in  God  that  makes  char- 
acter God-like,  is  the  faith  that  saves  in  God. 
'5 


170     SALVATION —THE  OLD  AND  NEW  VIEW. 

Thus  I  have  presented  the  two  schemes.  I  am 
under  obligation  to  you  to  set  forth  this  twofold 
view.  Don't  let  me  force  upon  your  acceptance 
either.  Judge  for  yourselves.  Choose  ye  which  ye 
will  adopt.  My  own  view  was  given  last  Sunday. 
I  don't  believe  this  view  —  and  for  the  reasons  given. 

But  remember  that  whatever  theories  we  may  hold, 
good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  a  theory  itself  never  makes 
a  man  better,  never  makes  him  worse,  any  further 
than  he  applies  it  and  works  it.  Would  you  be  saved, 
remember  that  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh 
righteousness,  of  whatever  nation,  clime,  or  time 
in  the  world,  may  be,  will  be  saved.  The  life,  the 
character,  as  they  contain  and  illustrate  the  life  and 
character  of  the  great  Teacher  Himself,  is  that  which 
saves  the  soul.  Salvation  is  not  in  word,  but  in  deed 
and  in  power.  He  is  saved  who  is  completed  in  the 
scale  of  his  nature.  The  worth  of  the  Gospel  lies 
in  what  it  can  do  in  this  august  finishing. 


XI. 

HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT,  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

My  help  cometh  from  the  Lord.  —  Psalms 
cxxi.  2. 

Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmi- 
ties.—  Romans  viii.  26. 

HERE  are  two  texts,  one  from  the  Old  and  the 
other  from  the  New ;  not  two  because  of  any 
divorce  or  antagonism,  but  the  twofold  form  of  one 
and  the  same  truth ;  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament, 
the  Lord  unto  whom  we  look  for  help,  and  the 
Christ  of  the  New  Testament,  the  Lord  manifest  in 
the  world ;  the  Father  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Son 
on  the  other;  the  Divine  Spirit  and  the  human 
spirit,  thus  linking  grandly  and  essentially  the  twain 
in  one. 

Let  me  consider  first  this  word  infirmity.  "  The 
Spirit  helpeth  our  infirmities." 

We  are  the  subjects  of  infirmity  in  three  senses  : 
first,  by  nature  —  in  our  raw  immaturity.  That  is 
one  of  the  forms  and  significances  of  infirmity  with 
regard  to  which  we  need  help. 

Again,  our  infirmities  mean  our  weaknesses,  de- 
bility, a  lack  or  lowering  of  the  tone  even  of  native 
vigor  —  sometimes  called  sickness,  but  weakness  is 
a  good  name. 

In  the  third  place,  our  infirmities  are  signified  in 
the    great   ideas  of  wrong,  wickedness,  vice.     What 

171 


172     HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT,  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

is  sin?  Sin  is  what  is  bad,  morally.  Sometimes  men 
associate  the  worth  of  Christianity  only  with  this 
latter  infirmity;  I  do  not  wonder,  therefore,  that 
they  show  no  more  vigor,  thrift,  or  rightness. 

Next,  consider  the  word  help.  "  I  lis  Spirit  helpeth 
our  infirmities." 

Help  —  a  common  word;  it  means  aid,  assistance, 
power  lent ;  it  means  a  recruiting,  a  reinforcement, 
and  so  on.  The  idea  is  plain  enough.  But  you  will 
notice  that  the  help  means  power  and  augmentation 
applied,  not  to  the  wrongness,  not  to  the  debility, 
making  it  more  so  ;  not  to  the  weakness,  increasing 
it;  but  to  the  subject  thereof — a  nice  distinction. 
Yet  upon  that  hair  trembles  the  life  and  death 
of  the  matter.  We  don't  want  to  help  immaturity, 
making  it  more  immature  ;  we  don't  want  to  add  sig- 
nificance to  debility,  making  it  more  significantly 
feeble;  we  don't  want  to  make  the  wrong  more 
wrong  by  any  reinforcement  thereto.  But  the  be- 
leaguered subject  of  these  wants  help.  You  want  it 
and  I  want  it;  not  that  wherein  we  are  what  we 
should  not  be  —  enough  of  that  already.  We  want  to 
be  made  more  and  more  that  wherein  we  should  be, 
ought  to  be,  can  be. 

Again,  help  means  not  only  aid,  re-empowering 
the  subject  thus  beleaguered,  but  it  is  no  supersedence 
of  his  power ;  no  replacing  of  his  agency  by  some- 
thing else;  no  suspension  of  it,  no  supplanting  of  it, 
no  substitution  for  it.  Help  is  a  yoke-fellow ;  help  is 
a  supplemental  armor  put  on  for  your  conflict.  It  is 
something  not  to  unsay,  and  undo,  and  prevent,  and 
supersede;    but  something  to  concur  with;    an   aid 


THE  DIVINE  HEIPEK  ADAPTED  TO  US.      1 73 

enabling  what  is  to  achieve  success;  whereas,  with- 
out this  enabling  supplement,  what  is  would  achieve 
failure.  Help,  then,  means  co-operation,  that  which 
renders  something  else  efficient ;  it  means  correla- 
tion of  power,  two  powers  yoked  together,  working 
together;  not  that  the  helping  power  should  knock 
the  helped  one  in  the  head,  but  that  it  should  make 
it  more  and  more  grandly  itself  and  finally  successful. 

Now  notice  the  helper.  "  The  Spirit  helpeth  our 
infirmities  "  —  the  Divine  Spirit.  It  is  a  good  render- 
ing—  "Helpeth  our  infirmities."  He  is  the  helper, 
for  it  must  be  a  person.  What  is  the  helper? 
God  the  Father  of  the  old  dispensation;  God  in 
Christ,  the  typical  and  essential  Divinity  and  power 
of  the  new  dispensation.  God,  a  Spirit  in  our  spirit, 
the  centre  and  heart  and  source  of  all  vitality  —  that 
is  the  nature  of  the  help.  Hence  I  took  the  two 
texts  from  the  Old  and  the  New. 

Having,  then,  thus  passed  upon  these  distinctions, 
notice  now  the  fitness  of  this  help  for  that  which  is 
to  be  helped;  the  divine  adaptation  to  the  infirmity 
out  of  which  the  subject  is  to  be  helped,  and  from 
which  he  is  to  be  helped  forever. 

This  Helper  is  no  arbitrary,  ill-suited  appointment 
by  the  high  court  of  heaven  ;  He  is  touched  with  a 
feeling  of  our  infirmities  ;  not  far  off;  not  unapproach- 
able ;  not  unfeasible,  but  like  us,  to  begin  with. 
Then,  again,  this  Helper  is  compassed  about  even 
with  our  infirmities,  arrayed  in  the  vesture  of  such 
fitness  ;  and  so  He  stands  commissioned  and  adapted 
to  us. 

15* 


174    HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT,  KOI  A   SUBSTITUTE. 

In  the  second  [dace,  this  help  is  divine.  What  we 
want  here  is  Divinity.  Put  the  neck  of  your  hu- 
manity in  one  end,  and  that  of  Divinity  in  the  other 
of  the  yoke,  and  you  are  yoke-fellows ;  that  is,  co- 
workers, working  out  together  salvation.  The  Divine 
power  not  killing,  and  supplanting,  and  superseding 
in  every  sense  the  human  power,  but  giving  more 
power  to  it;  passing  its  enabling  virtue  into  the  in- 
firmity of  sin,  of  immaturity,  of  debility. 

Some  time,  when  we  get  courage,  we  will  have  a 
discourse  upon  the  humanity  of  God  ;  for  we  are  his 
offspring,  you  remember.  If  the  child  is  human,  is 
not  the  parent?  It  will  do  to  think  of  until  we  have 
the  sermon.  Therefore  we  see  there  is  the  heart  of 
humanity  in  this  mighty  help,  as  well  as  Divinity; 
human  perfectness  which  helps,  in  connection  with 
the  divine  perfectness,  to  fructify  us,  empower  us, 
and  communicate  the  aid  we  need  to  make  our  sim- 
ple human  endeavor  successful  in  the  great  salvation 
problem. 

In  the  fourth  place,  this  help  is  miglity ;  sufficiently 
mighty;  all-mighty;  able  to  do  and  to  accomplish 
ultimately  even  to  the  utmost  what  is  needful ;  ex- 
actly the  mate  of  all  our  infirmity. 

In  the  fifth  place,  it  is  hearty.  This  help  coming 
to  us,  comes  as  the  result  of  no  mere  policy,  no 
mere  matter  of  head  calculation,  even  at  the  throne, 
though  it  comes  from  headquarters.  Hearty  —  what 
does  that  mean?  It  means  the  exuberance  of  the 
nature  and  power  from  which  it  comes ;  a  surplus 
declaration,  so  to  speak,   of  original  investment  in 


UTILIZING  THE  HELPER,  SAVES.  \J$ 

power  and  love.  You  can't  purchase  it ;  it  is  not 
purchasable.  You  fling  profanation  and  blasphemy 
upon  it  when  you  propose  to  weigh  it  in  the  balance 
of  an  equivalent.  It  is  self-balanced  ;  it  is  a  gift  — 
hearty,  original,  unqualified.  The  fitness,  then,  mates 
on  to  the  immaturity,  for  it  is  the  life  and  summer 
power  of  God  ripening  our  rawness  ;  it  is  the  mighti- 
ness and  inspiring  force  of  God  toning  up  our  de- 
bility ;  it  is  the  purity  ot  God  cleansing  the  ulcers 
and  poison  of  sin  in  our  nature.  Thus  for  the  dis- 
tinctions. 

Now  just  take  this  help  and  go  to  the  problem  of 
salvation.  You  are  saved  when  these  supplementing 
powers  are  so  accepted  by  you  that  your  own  powers 
carry  out  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  made. 
You  are  saved  when  you  are  helped  in  this  three- 
fold respect;  when  you  utilize  the  helper;  when 
you  are  helped  to  be  better,  or  become  better  through 
these  aids ;  when  you  become  stronger 'in  your  good- 
ness ;  when  you  become  riper  in  your  combined 
strength  and  rectitude. 

Now,  observe,  the  world  has  been  figuring,  and 
figuring,  and  figuring,  for  centuries,  to  find  out  how 
it  can  avoid  the  trouble  of  being  good  itself,  and  yet 
have  all  the  advantage  of  being  good.  It  has  been 
trying  to  construct  and  solve  a  problem  whereby  it 
shall  stand  in  the  comfortableness  of  a  good  estate, 
without  the  trouble  of  rising  to  that  attainment  actu- 
ally and  personally.  And  hence  we  find  that  the 
world  is  willing  to  believe,  until  the  end,  in  the  good- 
ness of  somebody  else,  if  that  may  stand  in  the  place 


IJO     Hl-I  r-.\  SUPPLEMENT,  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

of  its  own  goodness.      Instead  of  taking  such  bor- 
rowed goodness  as  a  helping  power  to  make  personal 
goodness,  it  takes  it  as  a  substitute.     The  world  i» 
willing  to  believe  in  the  working  power  of  another, 
and  that  another  should  do  the  work,  and  do  all  the 
work,  to  the  extent  of  superseding  the  necessity  of 
any  work  on  its  own  part.     It  takes  the  help  as  the 
substitute  for  its  own  endeavor.     It  has  been  willing 
to  do  that,  and  to  interpret  the  Christian's  idea  of 
help  in  that  sense;  thus  slipping  its  own  head  out 
of  its  end  of  the  yoke,  and  anxious  to  believe  that 
the  force  applied  at  the  other  end  will  be  sufficient 
for  both.     Vain  illusion  !   Ungrateful  beneficiary  !     Is 
that  the  kind  of  help  we  want  ? 

Let  me  tell  you — what  you  already  know — that  we 
want  help  in  this  matter  of  salvation,  in  this  matter 
of  our  religion,  on  exactly  the  same  principle  that 
we  want  help  anywhere.  What  is  education  ?  Your 
boy  is  raw,  unripe,  undeveloped  in  mind  ;  he  has 
certain  weaknesses;  in  a  certain  sense  he  is  feeble; 
quite  likely  already  badly  educated,  perverted.  You 
send  him  to  school.  He  wants  help.  What  does 
he  want  help  for?  Does  he  want  it  in  the  sense 
that  he  is  called  upon  simply  to  believe  that  the  uni- 
versity is  a  university,  and  to  believe  it  with  all  his 
mi^ht?  Docs  he  want  help  in  the  sense  that  that 
university  shall  be  a  working  power  to  release  him 
from  working?  Does  he  want  the  school  as  a  com- 
petent authority  to  make  out  the  diploma  and  hand 
it  to  him  while  he  masters  not  a  lesson  ?  Is  that 
the  help  he  wants  ?     An  easy  way  indeed  to  make 


THE  HELP  WE  WANT  FROM  GOD.  1/7 

scholars.  Such  help  can  be  bought ;  but  was  it  ever 
known  to  educate  ?  What  do  you  want  help  for  ? 
You  want  it  that  it  may  take  hold  with  your  powers, 
and  so  enable  you  to  lift  the  whole  burden.  You 
want  it  to  empower  you  so  to  work  with  your  own 
endeavors,  that  your  mind  at  last  shall  be  developed  ; 
the  competence  of  your  nature  brought  forth  and 
disciplined;  the  raw  immaturity  of  the  immortal  ma- 
terial of  your  being,  ripened  under  the  helping  powers 
of  the  grand  tuitional  forces,  —  you  want  that,  ex- 
actly that,  in  education.  And  the  man  is  a  fool,  and 
everybody  says  he  is  a  fool,  and  the  cry  goes  forth : 
The  fools  are  not  all  dead  yet,  when  he  proposes 
to  buy  scholarship,  buy  education  by  some  sort  of 
trick  or  substitution  that  releases  him  from  the  work 
and  the  ache  at  his  end  of  the  yoke. 

The  help  we  want  from  God  in  this  matter  of  sal- 
vation, from  the  God  from  whom  cometh  all  help,  is 
just  such  as  the  plant  wants  in  order  that  it  may  get 
up  out  of  the  earth  and  grow  and  be  perfected. 
Have  these  beautiful  flowers  sprung  up  without  any 
aid  ?  Why,  God  lets  down  his  summer  of  warmth 
to  help  them  germinate.  He  thus  aids  their  uplifting 
energies  to  come  forth  all  developed ;  so  they  get 
ability  and  glory  beyond  Solomon.  The  raw  imma- 
turity in  the  seed-life  comes  to  beauty  and  purity. 
Your  soul  wants  just  such  help  as  that,  and  God  has 
given  His  spiritual  summers,  the  fire  and  force  of 
his  own  spirit,  quick  and  powerful,  stirring  the  latent 
germ  in  your  nature.     But  a  flower  has  not  choice ; 

it  is  not  a  person ;  it  instinctively  co-operates.      You 

M 


178     HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT,  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

must  do  it  voluntarily.  That  makes  the  difference 
between  you  and  the  plant.  But  the  law  and  the 
method  are  the  same. 

What  sort  of  help  do  your  lungs  want,  for  exam- 
ple? The  help  of  the  air,  evidently.  Why?  So 
that  the  lungs  can  rest  and  do  nothing,  and  have  a 
good  time,  letting  the  air  do  all  the  breathing?  The 
heart  wants  help.  What  sort  of  help  ?  It  wants  the 
help  of  the  stomach  and  every  organ  and  function. 
Why  ?  That  the  heart  may  stop  and  rest?  That  is 
the  philosophy  that  reigns  extensively  in  this  world. 
Ah,  the  heart  is  the  yoke-fellow  of  the  brain,  and 
the  brain  of  the  stomach  ;  and  each  function  of  every 
other.  That  makes  the  harmony;  that  is  the  divinity 
of  the  whole. 

So  with  light.  The  eye,  in  order  to  have  good 
vision,  wants  the  help  of  light;  and  the  compliment 
may  be  returned.  The  light  wants  the  help  of  the 
eye.  Neither  alone  can  produce  the  result.  The  ear 
wants  the  help  of  sound.  The  delicate  musical  instru- 
ment wants  the  help  of  skill  in  the  fingers,  and  the 
frenzied  genius  of  the  musical  soul.  It  can't  do  any- 
thing without  it.  Neither  can  the  players  do  any- 
thing without  the  instrument.  The  instrument  does 
not  want  the  help  of  the  player  that  it  may  do  noth- 
ing, that  it  may  not  have  a  key  stirred.  No  ;  corre- 
lation, mutuality  in  the  matter  is  the  law.  In  the 
production  of  water,  oxygen  wants  the  help  of  hydro- 
gen ;  if  you  want  to  produce  air,  nitrogen  wants  the 
help  of  oxygen.  Can  you  get  water  or  air  with  only 
one  element  ?     Does  the  value  of  one  element  con- 


TRUE  HELP.  179 

sist  in  its  being  a  substitution  for  the  other?  Or 
does  it  consist  in  its  enabling  the  other  to  perfect  its 
power  and  reach  the  result  ?  If  you  want  the  energy 
of  steam,  you  put  fire  and  water  together.  Water 
wants  the  help  of  fire;  fire  wants  the  help  of  water; 
not  that  the  water  should  put  the  fire  out  and  do  it 
alone ;  not  that  the  fire  should  drink  up  the  water 
and  destroy  it ;  but,  yoked  together,  the  car  starts. 

So  God  and  man  come  together.  Man  needs  the 
help  of  God,  not  that  he  may  lie  idle,  but  that  his 
human  impotence  may  be  capable  of  doing  what  it 
could  not  do  without  that  help. 

Now,  is  it  not  just  so  everywhere?  How  is  it  in 
your  business  life  ?  A  young  man  says,  "  O,  if  I 
had  a  thousand  dollars;  if  I  had  five  hundred;  if  I 
had  just  a  little  to  ease  me  on  here  over  this  hard 
place ;  only  warmth  and  sympathy  enough  to  germi- 
nate me,  I  could  grow."  Let  him  have  it  and  he 
will  start ;  and  then,  if  he  has  business  tact,  he  will 
succeed.  But  should  he  say,  "  O,  that  I  had  my 
thousands  that  I  might  do  nothing,  dress  finely,  take 
my  rattan  and  go  forth  about  the  streets,  depending 
upon  that  substituted  help  to  do  my  work  !  "  Why, 
he  could  not  get  a  place  in  a  counting-room  in  Mil- 
waukee. You  would  not  trust  him  to  carry  a  parcel 
from  your  store  to  its  destination. 

How  is  it  in  charity?  There  are  hosts  of  beggars 
in  the  world.  How  can  you  best  help  them  ?  By 
stuffing  them  full,  washing  them,  and  clothing  them, 
and  making  them  look  like  gentlemen  ?  If  you  act 
on  that  principle,  your  charities,  being  a  help  to  their 


180    HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT,  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

inactivity  instead  of  a  stimulation  to  help  themselves, 
damage  the  poor.  It  is  no  charity;  it  is  a  premium 
on  profligacy  and  vagrancy  ;  it  is  trifling  with  Provi- 
dence. But  if  you  can  help  a  needy  man,  a  hopeless, 
homeless  man,  with  a  kind  word  or  a  dollar  that  shall 
start  his  endeavors ;  if  you  can  put  an  energy  into  the 
other  end  of  his  yoke  in  any  way,  do  it ;  but  don't 
do  it  in  a  way  that  shall  slip  his  neck  out.  Other- 
wise, if  you  give  him  a  gill,  he  will  ask  for  a  pint ; 
give  him  a  pint,  he  will  ask  for  a  gallon  ;  give  him  a 
gallon,  he  will  want  a  pailfull  ;  give  him  that,  and  if 
you  don't  give  him  a  hogshead  next  time,  he  will 
burn  your  house.  It  is  a  premium  upon  beggarism 
and  loaferism,  not  only  in  the  physical  world,  but 
even  in  the  mental  and  moral  world,  to  make  help 
a  substitute  for  endeavor.  This  dandling  of  spiritual 
subjects  and  trotting  them  on  the  knee  of  sentimental 
pity;  this  shedding  of  artificial  tears  over  them  until 
they  are  drowned  almost  in  superfluous  sympathy, 
never  saved  a  soul  any  more  than  it  cleared  the  guilt 
out  of  a  criminal.  But  if  the  soul  can  be  aided  to  do 
what  it  was  made  to  do ;  to  make  use  of  all  its  pow- 
ers in  a  right  way  unto  their  unfolding,  unto  their 
strengthening,  unto  their  purifying,  making  use  of 
helps  that  are  necessary  for  that — that  is  divine  ;  and 
beautiful  is  the  life  that  gives  itself  to  such  help. 
Beautiful,  indeed,  are  those  who  are  helped  in  that 
way.  That  is  the  way  to  do  good ;  that  is  the 
way  to  help  in  business ;  that  is  the  way  to  help  in 
charity,  in  want;  that  is  the  way  the  problem  of  sal- 
vation is  solved. 


MUTUALITY—  THE  LA  W  OF  HELP.  1 8 1 

Go  out  among  the  looms  of  Nature's  handiwork  ; 
take  the  web  and  unravel  it.  There  is  the  long  thread 
running  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  and  there  are 
the  needles  that  ply.  How  the  needles  want  the  help 
of  the  thread,  and  the  thread  the  help  of  the  needles  ! 
not  that  the  one  may  be  silent  and  do  nothing,  and 
be  thrown  away  and  counted  as  naught ;  and  not  that 
the  other  may  be  superseded  ;  but  that  they  may  sup- 
plement each  other,  and  the  concurrence  and  mutu- 
ality of  the  two  fill  up  the  grand  fabric  of  beauty 
and  use,  whether  in  star,  or  in  flower,  or  waving  field 
of  grain ;  whether  in  university  hall,  in  the  vast 
problems  of  statesmanship  and  civilization,  or  in  your 
closets ;  in  your  outlook  towards  glory ;  in  the  navi- 
gation of  that  voyage  that  crosses  the  dark  sea.  It 
is  a  law — this  law  of  help.  Here  is  the  great 
problem  of  salvation.  Work  it  out,  then,  with  fear 
and  trembling. 

Why  don't  we  take  those  aphorisms  in  philosophy 
and  warm  them  until  they  seed  our  souls,  and  bloom, 
making  our  whole  life  fragrant  ?  Why  don't  we  go 
to  work,  co-work  with  God  ?  I  make  an  impeach- 
ment of  God  if,  somehow  or  other,  T  propose  to  go 
on  a  flinty  path  until  my  feet  bleed,  so  as  to  please 
Him  enough  not  to  bleed  me  any  more.  God  is  no 
such  hard  master  as  that.  Go  to  work ;  use  the 
powers  that  are  in  you,  and  the  earth,  and  the  air, 
and  all  the  heavens  are  full  of  helpers  that  will  flock 
to  you  and  breed  victory  in  your  very  impotence. 
That  is  what  Paul  meant  when  he  said  he  gloried  in 

his  infirmities.     He  gloried  in  the  fact  that  he  stood 
16 


182     HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

environed  by  such  a  state  of  things,  that  when  he 
was  weak  then  he  might  become  mighty.  We  want 
help  to  make  us  successful.  The  helper  and  the 
helped  stand  in  this  true  relation  to  each  other;  and 
when  they  co-work  the  problem  is  solved,  and  the 
solution  is  salvation. 

Now,  I  beg  you  not  to  figure  that  old  problem, 
how  you  may  get  rid  of  doing  anything  by  getting 
somebody  else  to  do  it  for  you,  and  still  be  just  as 
well  off  as  if  you  did  it  yourself.  That  day  is  waning. 
And  don't  you  know  that  hundreds  and  thousands 
and  millions  who  trusted  that  problem,  seeing  they 
cannot  work  it,  are  floating  all  adrift,  not  knowing 
what  to  do?  They  are  called  sceptics,  a  great  many 
of  them ;  and  infidels,  a  great  many  of  them  ;  and 
cold-hearted  and  bad-hearted.  And  then  there  are 
others  who  resort  to  stirring  up  superficial,  artificial, 
fitful  feeling,  depending  upon  that.  A  better  day  is 
dawning.  The  day  of  negatives  is  passing  away,  and 
the  day  of  positives  is  laying  its  strong  hand  upon 
men,  in  religion  as  in  business;  and,  like  God  in  all 
nature,  men  have  got  to  work  until  they  work  out  a 
character  like  the  character  of  Him  who  is  the  great 
motto  and  model.  They  must  come  to  the  unfold- 
ing, and  development,  and  maturity  of  their  own 
powers,  obedient  to  God,  according  to  the  great  plan 
by  which  that  is  done.  Then  Providence  is  God's 
helper,  a  grand  presence.  Then  they  work  in  the 
midst  of  the  scheme  that  is  vital  in  itself.  We  are 
born  into  this  grand  supplementary  aid,  created  into 
it,  candidates  for  its  benefits,  only  with  wills  and  not 


THE  SAL  VA  TION  PROBLEM  SOL  VED.  1 83 

impersonality  like  the  flower.  If  you  want  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  keep  the  law  of  the  blessing;  if  you 
want  to  be  saved,  solve  the  problem  of  salvation. 
God  helps  those  who  help  themselves. 

Salvation  in  the  soul  with  regard  to  heaven,  is  not 
different  as  to  the  principle  of  it,  from  salvation  any- 
where, any  problem  in  nature,  any  problem  in  life. 
It  means  success,  not  failure  ;  conformity  to  laws,  and 
not  a  violation  of  laws ;  it  is  the  reciprocity  of  the 
human  and  Divine  power;  two  wills  concurring,  two 
hearts  in  the  relation  of  reciprocity ;  it  is  such  use 
of  God's  power  as  renders  your  own  power  successful. 
When  you  find  yourself  striving,  then,  in  the  great 
conflicts  and  toils  of  life,  friend,  have  a  comfortable 
standing  on  which  you  can  say,  "  Thou,  Lord,  art  my 
helper!'  When  your  own  spirit  consciously  yearns 
toward  the  grand  ultimatum,  toward  the  ripening  of 
the  grand  possibilities  in  your  nature  stipulated  for 
in  its  make  and  in  these  helpers,  then  be  consciously 
able  to  say  that  God's  spirit  hclpcth  the  infirmity  of  my 
spirit,  ripening  it,  strengthening  it,  purifying  it. 

On  this  cold,  snowy  morning,  a  basket  of  bright, 
blooming  flowers  came  to  my  door;  and  as  they 
passed  up  into  the  chamber  of  frailty  and  weariness, 
they  lit  up  the  cheerfulness  of  angel  visitants.  God, 
in  all  the  storm  and  winter  of  our  life,  is  sending 
down  warmth,  seeding  this  icy  soil  of  our  nature 
with  bloom  immortal.  He  is  not  a  hard  master;  He 
is  a  husbandman  whose  garden  is  man's  soul.  He 
wants  us  to  bloom  in  more  than  vernal  beauty.  He 
wants  us  to  sing  and  breathe  and  be  charmed  in 


184    HELP— A  SUPPLEMENT^  NOT  A  SUBSTITUTE. 

sweetness  by  and  by,  that  shall  make  angel  ministries 
to  be  forgotten  and  death  the  remembered  mother 
of  life. 

As  Nature,  then,  in  her  mute,  unconscious  order, 
reciprocates  the  love  and  help  of  God,  so  may  you, 
O  soul,  subject  of  the  living,  conscious  spirit,  recip- 
rocate the  advances  of  help  divine,  bloom  for  bloom, 
life  for  life,  glory  for  glory.  Only  reciprocate  God 
in  a  use  that  shall  not  be  abuse ;  then  the  heaven 
that  you  shall  realize  by  and  by,  will  be  the  ripeness 
of  your  nature,  the  glory  of  its  strength,  and  the 
charm  and  sweetness  of  its  unsullied  purity  —  com- 
municated by  Him  who  bows  down  to  man,  that 
man  in  his  earthly  wants  may  be  lifted  to  the  fullness 
of  the  Father's  estate. 


XII. 

MAN'S  NATURE   DEVELOPED   BY  THE    QUICK- 
ENING POWER  OF  GOD'S  NATURE. 

My  soul  deaveth  unto  the  dust.      Quicken 
thou  me  according  to  thy  Word. 

THAT  is  an  outburst  from  the  soul  of  David  in 
one  of  his  fortunate  moods.  "The  first  man 
Adam  was  made  a  living  soul ;  the  last  Adam  was 
made  a  quickening  spirit."  So  argues  Paul,  the  apos- 
tle, on  the  great  theme  of  the  Resurrection.  The. 
Master  said,  "Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  And 
He  spake  for  universal  truth  and  universal  humanity. 
"  But  I  will  make  her  desolate  places  like  the  garden 
of  the  Lord"  sighed  out  the  old  prophet  from  his  soul. 

These  passages  throw  around  my  thought  an 
atmosphere  congenial  to  my  subject;  and  therefore  I 
quote  them,  as  God  quotes  the  summer  on  the  sleep- 
ing germ  in  the  earth. 

Under  the  lead  and  spirit  of  these  Scriptures,  let 
me  state  and  handle  my  theme  for  the  morning, 
namely  :  "  The  development  of  our  nature  as  a  spiritual 
organism,  under  the  power  of  a  higher  nature  as  a 
spiritual  organism  suited  to  perfect  and  save  it,  is  the 
true  idea  of  religion." 

Of  course  it   is  implied  that  this  higher  nature  is 
fit  and  adequate,  in  all  specific  details  and  respects, 
to  the  work  that  is  to  be  done ;  or,  in  other  words, 
16*  ,85 


1 86      MAN'S  NATURE  DEVELOPED  AT  GOD'S. 

that  the  relation  between  tin-  two  natures  is  perfect 
and  complete.  This  being  the  heart  of  my  subject, 
I  will  not  dwell  upon  minute  details  as  to  the  fitness 
of  this  relation. 

The  great  battle  of  all  religious  thought  to-day,  is 
prepared  and  is  going  on  in  the  realm  of  human  na- 
ture itself.  All  the  searchings,  all  the  inquiries,  all 
the  propositions,  point  to,  and  naturally  are  balanced 
and  entertained  in,  this  field  and  this  precinct  of 
humanity. 

Come,  then,  to  your  own  nature  to-day.  We  find 
it  to  be  in  itself  a  living  organism,  to  begin  with ;  a 
sleeping  embryo  of  everything  that  lies  mutely 
prophesied  in  its  structure  and  capacity.  That  is  to 
say,  man's  nature  in  and  of  itself,  was  made  by  God 
a  seed-plat  full  of  germs,  full  of  rudiments,  full  of 
embryonic  possibilities  and  futurities.  Our  nature  is 
rich  in  this  human  end  of  the  problem  of  religion, 
enriched  by  what  God  deposited  in  it  when  He  made 
it.  I  said,  it  was  at  first  and  is  a  vital  organism,  a 
thing  of  life  and  functions  and  organs;  a  germ  of 
possible  unfoldings,  developments,  growth,  maturi- 
ties. I  repeat,  by  nature  this  is  so ;  for  all  this  I  am 
speaking  of,  is  man's  human  nature.  Of  course 
we  mean  faculties,  powers,  capacities,  susceptibili- 
ties; hopes  unborn,  faith  unawakened  ;  all  the  con- 
stituents that  enter  into  this  wonderful  organism  of 
life  and  future  possibility. 

The  next  thing  to  be  thought  of  is  the  great  truth 
that  those  germs,  seeds,  or  rudiments,  however  you 
may  name  them,  need  to  be  quickened  by  a  life  not 


WHAT  THE  SOUL'S  POTENCIES  NEED.        1 87 

in  or  of  themselves.     Their  nature  needs  to  feel  the 
vital  touch  of  some  other  nature ;  which  last  is  to 
communicate  its  power  and  its  quickening  force  to 
the    first,   in   order  that  it   may   fulfill,  and  actually 
finish,  and  entirely  complete,  the  plan  of  its  being, 
and  reach  the  end  preordained  for  it,  as  well  as  in 
it,  when   God  made  it.     These  germinal  potencies, 
these  sleeping  functions  or  spiritual  organs,  need  to 
be  warmed  by  the  heat  of  a  sun  not  in  themselves, 
but  far  above  them.    They  need  to  be  breathed  upon 
and  breathed  into  ;  in  other  words,  inspired,  that  they 
start  on  their  career.     They  need  to  be  cultivated, 
trained,  tended,  nursed  and  carefully  handled.    They 
need  to  be  grown  ;  they  need  to  be  matured.     You 
will  please  keep  in  mind  that  this  work  proceeds  un- 
der the  power  of  a  nature  higher  than  the  nature 
held  under  culture  and  tuition. 

O,  the  wonder  of  this  relation  of  man  to  God ! 
The  wonders  and  unspeakable  marvels  veiled  in 
these  hidden  relations,  circulating,  I  may  say,  in  the 
blood  of  these  consanguinities.  O,  the  wonder  of 
soul  touching  soul;  of  nature  giving  itself  to  nature; 
of  life  propagating  itself  in  life  !  And  yet  why  should 
we  marvel,  after  all,  at  this  great  simplicity,  wonder- 
ful as  it  is?  For  it  is  the  most  simple  thing  in  the 
world.  For  thousands  of  years,  and,  for  aught  I 
know,  we  may  say  millions  of  years,  God  has  been 
teaching  this  simple  thought  to  the  world.  Every 
time  He  has  commanded  a  warm  sunbeam  to  pene- 
trate a  sleeping  seed  in  the  earth  and  wake  it  up, 
that  lesson  has  been  taught.     Every  time  He  has 


[88     MAN'S  NATURE  DEVELOPED  BY  GOD* S. 

commissioned  a  new  spring  or  summer  to  come  forth 
out  of  its  hiding-place,  and  breathe  a  new  life  into  the 
torpid  earth,  He  has  taught  the  same  thing  —  the 
lower  nature  quickened  by  the  higher  nature;  a  tor- 
pid, slumbering,  undeveloped  organism,  pierced  with 
the  life  and  fructified  by  a  high  and  sufficient  organ- 
ism above  it  —  a  counter-completing  nature.  These 
lessons  and  these  rehearsals  have  been  running  on  for 
ages,  and  for  cycles  unspeakable,  inconceivable. 

Precisely  what  God  has  taught  in  nature,  we  are 
to  apply  to  spirit.  This  problem  of  our  being  in  this 
grand  work  of  religion  and  life,  you  perceive,  is  ex- 
actly in  the  nature  of  a  birth.  And  I  don't  wonder 
at  the  rationalism  of  the  New  Testament  that  calls  it 
the  new  birth.  The  soul  born  out  of  its  ante-natal 
stillness  and  impotence,  into  power;  the  soul  waked 
up  to  behold  the  world  and  order  of  existence  it  was 
actually  created  into  ;  faculties  unsealed,  a  sub-con- 
scious life  and  world  throbbing  up  into  conscious- 
ness—  born  up,  such  is  the  idea.  Beautiful  figure! 
Literally  true.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  regeneration 
exactly.  Marvel  not  at  that  dictum  in  the  Book, 
when  your  very  pathway  is  thronged  with  the  affirma- 
tion of  it  in  nature!  The  competency  of  this  higher 
vital  organism  smiting  the  lower,  rends  the  bands 
and  bursts  the  slumbering,  waiting,  anticipating  life 
there.  It  is  exactly  in  the  nature  of  salvation  as  well. 
Nay,  it  is  salvation  itself.  To  be  saved  is  to  be 
quickened  by  this  power  of  life  from  heaven,  work- 
ing newness,  working  birth,  working  uplifting  and 
completion  in  the  first  Adam  or  humanity. 


WHAT  IS  IT  TO  BE  IOST?  1 89 

Salvation,  what  is  it?  Is  it  a  kind  of  battle-cry  in 
your  theologic  warfare  ?  Is  it  a  kind  of  ceremonial 
function  in  place  of  altars  made  with  hands  ?  A 
routine  or  ritual  adapted  to  the  external  temple  and 
workings  of  sense  ?  Salvation!  A  soul  saved  !  What 
is  it  for  a  soul  to  be  saved  but  exactly  this,  viz.:  the 
rudimental  elements  of  its  nature  inspired,  vitalized, 
cultivated  and  cared  for  unto  the  end,  even  to  a  crown 
of  ripeness  and  fullness  and  glory  in  another  world? 

And  what  is  it  to  be  lost,  but  just  to  be  neg- 
lected? your  nature  left  in  its  sterility,  uncultivated, 
unquickened,  unborn  again?  No  rising  from  its 
grave,  unregenerated ;  with  no  higher  life  piercing 
it,  enriching  it,  strengthening  it,  or  perfecting  it: 
To  be  lost  is  that.  To  be  left  to  rot  in  the  native 
hill,  wasting,  perishing,  is  terrible  indeed ;  but  sim- 
ple and  plain  as  light;  such  it  is  to  be  lost.  We  lose 
ourselves. 

Look  into  the  depths  of  this  nature !  Look  down 
into  the  dark  deep  of  the  soul,  down  to  the  deep-sea 
soundings !  Descend  to  the  latent  life  there,  the 
sub-conscious  world  that  you  have  never  heard  from, 
into  which  no  vision  of  yourself  has  flashed ;  go 
there.  Glory  sleeps  infolded,  and  bloom  and  won- 
der. Palaces  there  are  waiting  to  be  entered.  Ter- 
rible blasts,  howling  and  darkness  and  desolation 
are  there,  the  nemesis  of  folly,  neglect  and  falseness. 
Go  down  into  the  world  within  you,  O  soul !  the 
world  of  human  nature,  and  find  what  lies  buried; 
exhume  it  and  make  a  right  use  of  it.  That  is  the 
problem  of  religion. 


190       MAN'S  MATURE  DEVELOPED  BY  GOD'S, 

At  first,  man  is  only  slightly  developed.  A  child, 
he  awakes  to  feel  himself  touched  by  the  aspects  of 
the  world  around  him.  That  is  the  primal,  natural 
development.  His  intelligence  becomes  adjusted  to 
the  life  he  is  living  here  in  time  and  nature.  He  is 
busy  to  obtain  a  morsel  of  bread.  This  is  his  first 
rudimental  development.  But  ere  long,  after  that 
beginning,  there  is  deeper  awakening.  Profounder 
slumbers  are  stirred,  and  there  come  cries  for  some- 
thing which  the  morsel  of  bread  will  not  satisfy. 
Whispers  are  born  that  say,  "  Ma'n  shall  not  live  by 
bread  alone."  Other  wants  are  revealed.  Man  wants 
wdiat  transcends  the  whole  realm  of  sense  and  na- 
ture and  matter.  He  wants  spirit.  Aye,  better  said 
than  this  ;  man  wants  the  life,  the  love,  the  sympathy 
of  another  soul.  He  wants  the  fellowship  of  a  mighty 
nature;  the  feeding  of  a  Being  mightier  than  him- 
self, whose  sympathetic  bounty  shall  rain  down  rich- 
ness into  human  want  and  human  wasting.  This  is 
spiritual  development.  Man  is  now  under  the  tuition 
of  God,  through  providence  and  revelation  and  in- 
spiration. And  then,  at  last,  there  is  a  final  devel- 
opment of  man,  a  birth  through  the  dark  fiery  gate  of 
death.  His  very  nature  gets  so  awakened  and  so 
emergent  in  its  conscious  necessities,  that  the  very 
bandages  of  time,  the  mortal  wrappings  of  humanity, 
the  old  capsules,  break  and  the  prisoner  flies  away. 
There  is  a  life  beyond,  then,  waiting  the  issues  of 
life  here.  That  in  itself  is  a  high  vital  organism  to 
work  upon  us.  As  it  acts,  the  quickened  nature 
within    ascends,    swelling    and    expanding    all    the 


THE  LIFE  BEYOND  THE   VEIL.  191 

time,  heart  meeting  heart,  being  meeting  being.  A 
divine  organism  above,  ever  more  mightily  pouring 
life  down  into  the  lagging  slumbers  of  him  who  needs 
it  on  the  mortal  path  to  the  immortal. 

This  life  beyond  the  veil  is  very  soon  hinted  to  us. 
I  think  of  the  present  existence  as  parted  off  from 
that  to  come  by  a  thin  wall  very  much  like  a  veil, 
almost  transparent,  and  so  delicate  that  the  very 
pulse-throb  of  the  great  Nature  up  there,  vibrates  the 
medium  and  we  feel  it  here.  Sometimes  we  seem  to 
see  behind  the  veil  faces  of  beauty  unutterable,  and 
glory  looking  through  from  beyond  ;  and  we  just 
catch  glimpses  of  them  through  the  thin  transpar- 
ency. Then  the  vision  once  so  caught,  when  it 
retreats,  haunts  us  and  haunts  us  evermore.  We 
know  then  that  the  grand  destiny  and  emergent  ten- 
dency of  soul  and  immortality  in  us,  look  beyond 
this  visible  to  the  great  invisible  world  ;  and  that  the 
finished  state  of  our  existence  is  there.  Oh,  patience 
now,  and  gentleness  and  still  life  come  down  and 
talk  with  us,  and  sit  by  our  side.  Wisdom  breeds 
her  counsels  in  our  thoughtfulness,  tenderness  in  our 
hearts,  and  we  are  new.  We  are  advised  of  the 
abiding  interests  our  life  elicits  there,  and  we  have 
no  abiding  city  here. 

Sometimes  men  think  and  speak  as  if  they  thought 
God  were  afar  off;  as  if  the  spiritual  world  were  far 
away  beyond  some  grand  stormy  sea,  above  the 
heavens,  at  the  end  of  a  dark,  returnless  journey 
which  we  must  all  make  to  get  there.  But  is  it  so  ? 
Is  that  other  nature  remote  in  distance  ?  that  other 


I92     MAN'S  NATURE  DEVELOPED  BY  COD'S. 

heart  far  away?  That  other  world,  does  it  lie  in 
some  mighty  offing?  and  are  we  interspaced  by- 
planets  and  reaches  and  expansions  of  desolation  ? 
Is  it  not  rather  true  that  the  whole  of  that  mighty 
life-power  already  touches  us,  in  our  hearts  if  haply 
we  may  find  it,  warm  on  our  lips,  a  divineness  in  our 
nature  ? 

In  this  life  —  the  better  part  of  us,  I  mean,  and 
that's  all  I  am  talking  about  this  morning —  we  are 
in  a  slumber.  Did  you  ever  see  a  child  sleeping  on 
the  grass,  wearied  by  his  summer  play  ?  Of  what  is 
he  dreaming  ?  He  is  among  singing  brooks,  whis- 
pering leaves,  singing  birds,  green  hills,  beautiful 
heavens,  balmy  airs,  a  paradise  of  sense.  But  it  is 
only  a  dream.  Let  him  actually  wake  up,  and  the 
world  will  no  longer  be  dream,  but  reality  all  about 
him.  He  did  not  know  it  then.  That  dream  was  a 
prophet ;  the  dream  was  an  actuality  prefigured.  So 
this  life  is  a  dream.  The  invisible  world  is  haunting 
us.  Sometimes  we  feel  the  facile  hand  that  pre- 
conformed  our  nature  to  it.  And  if  we  would  only 
wake  up,  if  we  could  be  quickened  by  the  higher 
nature  as  to  the  sleeping  senses  within  us,  We  should 
not  only  see  dreamlands,  and  singing  brooks,  and 
green  hills,  but  we  should  see  just  what  made  the 
hills,  and  we  could  read  the  music  of  the  very  score 
on  which  the  song  was  written.  Sense  in  all  its  bril- 
liance and  glory  would  melt  and  vanish  away,  and 
there  would  be  presented  a  new  world.  Even  now 
God  is  here,  and  the  spiritual  world  is  here,  and 
heaven  is  here  to-day.     All  that  grand  conception 


DEA  TH  IS  A  NE  W  BIR  TH.  1 93 

of  things  invisible  of  which  we  speak  so  freely  and 
so  carelessly  even  —  all  is  right  here. 

Sometimes  men  say,  when  their  friends  pass  on, 
Ah  !  gone,  gone,  never  to  return !  The  golden  bowl 
broken !  the  silver  cord  sundered !  life's  schemes 
mercilessly  brought  to  wreck  and  disaster!  But  is 
this  wisdom  ?  One  nature  touching  another  nature, 
one  life  breeding  itself  in  another  life,  one  world 
down  here  infiguring  itself  in  the  soul,  but  to  be  ex- 
figured  there  —  is  this  the  end  and  finish  of  life? 
Never.  Death  is  birth.  We  pass  on  to  promotion. 
There  is  only  a  resurrection  in  the  transit,  only  new 
birth,  the  quickening  powers  of  that  higher  nature 
of  God  vitalizing  the  higher  powers  of  our  nature. 
Life  never  ends.  Life's  work  is  never  done.  The 
grand  organic  life  of  God  and  the  world  of  the  trans- 
lated, seizing  the  life  of  our  nature,  by  its  gales  of 
inspiration  sets  the  soul  to  rolling  up  its  tides  of  un- 
broken being  to  roll  on  for  ever.  Don't  the  angels 
get  heart  ?  Are  they  not  greatened  every  time  one 
awakens  and  turns  from  the  error  of  his  ways  ?  And 
may  we  not  say  truly  that  the  infinite  Soul  comes  to 
satisfaction  reaped  in  no  other  way  than  from  the  tra- 
vail that  brings  us  onward,  through  all  the  stresses 
of  the  ascension,  to  the  rest  and  finish  that  re- 
maineth  ? 

Angels  help  on  the  great  Divine  purposes  to-day. 
Thousands  of  rays  reflected  from  the  burning  throne, 
send  down  their  summer  warmth  into  the  sleeping 
germs  of  immortality,  quickening  them  to  growth  ; 

countless  messages  flash  from  the  world  of  translated 

17  N 


14      MAN'S  NATURE   DEVELOPED  BY  GOD'S. 

and  victorious  life,  athwart  the  dreary  and  waiting 
waste  of  our  nature  here,  starting  hope  and  faith  from 
their  slumbers,  and  setting  them  towards  the  city  of 
God.  The  great  world  of  organized  life  there,  is 
potent  upon  the  human  world  here  to  move  it.  Life 
comes  down  and  plants  itself  in  all  its  dearness  in 
the  heart-life  here;  and  thus  humanity  lives  anew  and 
rises  and  enters  into  the  great  confirmations. 

Deeper  and  deeper,  then,  go  down  into  your  own 
nature  ;  for  only  as  you  do  that,  will  you  go  deeper 
into  God's  nature.  Down  at  the  very  bottom  of  your 
own  humanity,  sleeps  the  image  of  the  Father.  What 
you  want  to-day,  is  to  awaken  and  brighten  and  de- 
velop it.  Do  you  not  know  that  there  is  no  way  of 
knowing  God  except  through  knowing  yourself?  A 
mere  smattering  or  superficial  acquaintance  with 
one's  own  deep  soul,  is  a  mere  smattering  of  God- 
knowledge  and  of  salvation.  In  the  human  depths 
are  the  germs  of  immortality  that  need  quickening. 
Juried  there  are  beauties  and  wondrous  nobilities 
just  budding  out,  that  need  the  summer  warmth  to 
encourage  and  mature  them.  Sometimes,  indeed, 
they  seem  to  be  crushed  by  the  rude  feet  of  careless- 
ness, and  to  perish  in  their  birth.  But  the  great  truth 
stands,  that  no  human  blossom  ever  turned  itself  to 
God,  that  did  not  thrill  the  life  —  communication 
caught  from  Him  —  down  to  the  very  roots  of  faith 
and  power.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  perishing,  a 
great  deal  of  decaying,  even  when  these  germs  are 
actually  quickened  into  life  and  beauty.  The  old  is 
left  to  perish,  even  as  it  is  in  the   order  of  nature. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  OUR  BEING.  1 95 

The  greater  part  of  the  corn  of  wheat  decays,  to  help 
the  germ  into  life  and  growth.  The  one  will  decrease, 
the  other  will  increase.  In  the  depths  of  your  nature 
you  must  search  for  all  beauty,  all  grace,  all  manhood, 
all  womanhood.  Sweetness  is  born  there,  and  the 
charm  of  blessedness.  Nothing  lofty  is  built  of  other 
material. 

O,  the  depths  in  us  !  How  they  need  to  be  stirred  ! 
How  they  need  to  be  quickened!  Sometimes  God 
has  to  smite  and  rend  the  tough  integument  of  the 
super-incumbent  matter,  that  light  and  warmth  may 
be  let  down  into  man's  torpor.  How  the  rudiments 
in  him  need  to  be  quickened!  How  they  need  to  be 
born  again!  How  they  lose  who  live  a  surface  life  — 
much  in  thought,  more  in  heart  —  unspeakably  in 
spiritual  power !  How  unsaved  we  are ;  how  un- 
awakened !  No  man  can  afford  to  live  a  day  or 
even  an  hour  in  this  world,  unconsciously  buried 
beneath  the  sod  of  his  nativity.  No  man  can 
afford  to  die  thus,  unawakened  to  a  sense  of  higher 
things. 

Here,  briefly,  is  the  problem  of  our  whole  being  — 
the  problem  of  our  nature.  Right  here  is  our  life- 
work.  Exactly  here  is  the  matter  of  our  religion, 
and  here  will  read  the  record  of  our  success  or  our 
failure.  Draw  aside  the  veil  and  anticipate  the  read- 
ing !  The  bells  will  ring  out  the  proclamation  as  the 
verdict  issues.  Will  they  ring  jubilees,  triumphs, 
striking  the  great  concords  of  memory  and  hope  ?  or 
will  they  chime  dirges,  and  requiems,  and  laments  ? 
Memory  will  live;  will  its  under-chant  be  hope? 


lo/>     MAN'S  NATURE  DEVELOPED  BY  (/OB'S. 

Now  is  the  reconciling  time;  now  is  the  day  of 
salvation. 

May  God  from  heaven  be  the  Divine  quickening 
upon  our  nature,  and  may  the  wisdom  that  is  from 
above  make  us  wise  unto  salvation.  In  that  we  save 
ourselves  through  trustworthy  fidelity  in  this  summer 
husbandry  of  our  nature,  lies  the  God-given  passport 
to  heaven. 


XIII.    . 

A     SUFFERING     CHRIST   IN   NORMAL    ACCORD 
WITH  NATURE  AND  REASON. 

A  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief.  —  Isaiah  liii.  3. 

THESE  words  are  supposed  by  many  to  point, 
prophetically,  directly  to  Jesus  Christ.  The 
whole  chapter  is  regarded  as  a  grand  vista  through 
which  faith  beholds  Him. 

Many  others  look  upon  the  passage  as  an  outburst 
of  Jewish  aspiration,  a  gush  of  mingled  memory  and 
hope,  bursting  out  of  their  sorrow  and  sighing,  to- 
gether with  a  passionate  hungering  for  deliverance 
and  the  coming  of  God  and  their  national  fortune. 

Do  you  ask  me  to  sit  as  umpire  between  these  two 
opinions  ?  I  must  decline.  I  do  not  know  so  much 
about  these  things  as  many  pretend  to  know.  But 
if  you  will  go  into  the  New  Testament,  you  will  find 
all  through  that  book,  from  the  teachings  of  the 
evangelists,  from  the  teachings  of  Christ  Himself  and 
the  apostles,  the  great  truth  that  He  zuas  a  man  of 
sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 

There  is  no  mistaking  this.  We  do  not  like  to 
hear  about  this  matter  of  sorrow  always  ;  and  it  is 
well  that  we  do  not.  We  are  prone  to  brush  up  and 
burnish  the  old  rusty  spots,  and  with  our  wands 
sweep  the  heavens,  until  we  see  nothing  but  bright- 
17*  197 


i</S         ./  SUFFERING  CHRIST  REASONABLE. 

ncss,  and  conclude  that  shadows  arc  a  mere  phantom, 
a  defect  of  our  own  vision  most  likely,  having  no 
foundation  in  reality.  But  the  stubborn  fact  is,  suf- 
fering, grief  and  sorrow  arc  not  shadows  of  things, 
but  things  themselves.  It  is  true,  also,  that  they  are 
set  down  in  the  Divine  order  of  wisdom,  love  and 
power,  written  by  a  light  in  which  there  is  no  dark- 
ness at  all.  The  simple  truth  is,  this  world  of  ours 
can  no  more  do  without  heart-ache,  than  it  can  do 
without  heart-ecstasy.  And  a  man  can  never  be  a 
man  without  sorrow  and  suffering,  any  more  than  he 
can  be  a  complete  man  without  emancipation  from 
sorrow  and  suffering.  Why,  the  very  heart  of  God 
is  obliged  to  wade  through  conscious  distress,  that  it 
may  come,  bright  and  dripping  from  the  passage,  into 
conscious  deliverance  and  fruition  of  joy.  There  is 
a  satisfaction  to  the  Divine  soul  that  comes  only 
through  its  travail.  But  we  must  leave  the  general 
statement. 

I  have  three  propositions  to  enunciate  just  here  : 
First:  If  Jesus  Christ  stood  the  representative  of 
Gcd  and  humanity  that  he  claimed  to  be,  and  all  the 
streams  of  history  poured  their  turbulent  contents  into 
his  bosom;  and  if  he  stood  also  as  a  fountain  from 
which  throbbed  the  mingled  streams  of  prophetic  life 
—  victory  as  well  as  suffering  —  then  it  is  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  that  He  should  have  been 
a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 

We  need  not  worry  ourselves  to  link  this  fact  to 
some  miraculous,  supernatural  voucher  or  vouching. 
It  is  the  most  rational  thing  in  the  world,  if  Christ 


CHRIST  CAME  TO  WORK  OX  MAN.  1 99 

was  what  He  claimed  to  be,  that  He  should  have 
been  a  man  of  sorrow  and  acquainted  with  grief;  for 
what  is  all  history  but  a  fight,  ending  in  victory  or 
defeat  ?  What  is  all  history  but  a  strife  parturient, 
a  grand  life  imprisoned  and  unborn,  seeking  deliver- 
ance and  a  crown  ?  Nothing  but  that.  And  the  jar 
and  the  terrible  perturbations  of  humanity  in  all  the 
pre-Christ  ages,  deposited  their  gathered  tremors  in 
Him,  if  his  claims  were  true.  And  if  they  were  true, 
the  same  economy  of  providence  sweeps  over  the 
future  that  covers  the  past,  and  the  central  Fountain 
stands  throbbing  out  this  mingled  power  of  joy  and 
sorrow,  the  elements  of  conflict  and  the  vouchers  of 
victory,  all  through  the  unveiled  centuries  to  come. 
It  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that  a  being 
who  really  was  and  is  what  Christ  claimed  to  be, 
should  be  one  of  sorrow  and  acquainted  with  grief. 
That  is  the  first  proposition. 

The  next  is :  If  Christ,  with  all  his  claims,  be  in 
this  world  no  impostor,  but  a  true,  genuine  being, 
having  come  for  the  sake  of  working  upon  man,  and 
making  mankind  different  and  better,  and  not  for 
the  sake  of  working  upon  God,  and  effecting  some 
enabling  status  in  the  Divine  Governor  and  govern- 
ment of  the  universe,  then  it  is  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world  that  He  should  have  been,  and  should 
be,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 

Assuming  him  to  have  come  for  the  benefit  of 
humanity,  and  not  for  the  benefit  of  Divinity;  to  have 
come  bringing  the  power  of  God  to  make  you  differ- 
ent from  what  you  are,  and  not  for  the  expending  of 


20O         A     //.  .  RJA'G  CHRIST  REASONABLE. 

Ins  own  power  to  make  God  different  from  what  He 
was  or  is.  it  is  the  most  natural  thine;  in  the  world  — 
the  most  natural  thing  conceivable  —  that  He  should 
have  been  a  man  of  sorrow  and  acquainted  with  grief. 
For,  according  to  his  own  showing  and  according  to 
God's  showing,  it  was  for  simply  this  that  He  came. 
to  bring  the  heart-ache  of  God  into  the  world  for  the 
world's  good.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  divine  importa- 
tion of  that  spell  and  stress  of  paternal  interest, 
which  is  the  very  life-power,  when  you  feel  it,  of 
salvation  in  the  soul.  He  came  on  a  suffering  errand  ; 
He  came  on  a  sorrowing  embassy;  He  came  to  make 
you  and  me  sorrowful  after  the  fashion  of  the  Father's 
sorrow.  He  came  for  that ;  and,  putting  it  all  inclu- 
sively, He  of  course  came  for  nothing  else.  And 
when  the  element  of  divine  sorrow  over  human  dere- 
liction,  and  divine  yearning  over  human  imperfec- 
tion, becomes  an  ingredient  and  fact  of  character  in 
your  experience  and  mine,  then  the  Divine  heart 
has  seen  of  the  travail  of  its  soul,  and  is  satisfied. 

Now,  then,  we  ought  by  the  reason  to  know,  at 
this  age  of  the  world,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
handling  the  moral  problem  through  whose  solution 
man's  nature  is  wrought  upward,  without  suffering. 
You  never  can  come  into  any  good  short  of  the  cost 
of  it.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  resurrection 
that  is  not  written  and  enacted  in  the  very  elements 
of  death  and  victory  over  death.  There  can  be  no 
such  thing  as  new  birth,  or  higher  birth,  whose  cer- 
titude is  not  vouched  for  in  the  pangs  that  produce 
it.     Here  is  the  secret  of  that  high  necessity.     When 


DEATH  THE  GATE   OF  LIFE.  201 

sorrow  is  past,  then  joy  becomes  multiplied.  So  it 
stands  a  matter  of  simple  necessity,  a  matter  of  sim- 
ple rationality,  that  one  who  would  bring  God  into 
an  imperfect  world  and  lift  an  imperfect  world  God- 
ward,  must  be  a  power  that  has  heart  in  it,  and  a 
heart  that  is  capable  of  aching.  Such  the  secret  that 
is  hidden,  the  distinctive  essence  in  the  root  of  the 
Gospel.  So  much  for  the  second  proposition  —  for 
I  must  be  brief. 

My  third  proposition  is  :  That  if  Christ,  being  what 
He  claimed  to  be,  stood  as  the  vital  link  between  two 
worlds,  a  connecting  artery  between  the  life  that  now 
is  and  the  life  that  is  to  come,  it  is  the  most  natural 
thing  conceivable  that  He  should  have  been  a  being 
of  sorrow  and  acquainted  with  grief. 

For  you  know  the  way  that  we  get  out  of  one  into 
the  other,  is  through  terrible  aching.-  The  way  we 
pass  out  of  life  into  life,  from  the  lower  to  the  up- 
ward, is  by  the  dark  gateway,  through  withering 
flowers,  through  vanishing  melodies,  through  the 
way  of  scentless  bowers,  of  fading  beauties,  of  dying 
cadences,  and  all  the  mortal  ecstasies  that  traverse 
our  nature  here.  And  what  is  this  but  dying? 
Dying  —  getting  out  of  a  world  of  death!  What  is 
dying  but  being  born?  And  what  is  being  born, 
immortally,  but  just  verifying  the  vital  connection 
between  the  two  worlds  ?  He,  then,  who  assumes 
to  stand  as  that  fact  and  that  power,  needs  indeed  to 
be  fraught  with  the  whole  significance  of  it.  He 
needs  to  have  occulted  himself  beneath  the  darkness 
of  death  ;  he  needs  to  have  come  from   the  rending 


202         ./  SUFFERING  CHRIST  RE  XSONABLE. 

tomb  of  our  nature,  to  have  been  buried  in  our  na- 
ture and  to  have  generated  resurrection  there.  I  am 
simply  saying  this  great  truth  implies  sorrow,  suffer- 
ing, tears. 

Look  out  upon  May.  The  harshest  winds  in  all 
the  year  are  spring  winds.  They  put  their  raw,  un- 
gentle hands  upon  the  harps  within  us,  and  these 
harps  are  chilled  to  silence;  they  sing  no  more. 
They  issue  their  rough  decrees,  and  life  seems  to 
wilt  and  wither;  while  all  the  time  their  meaning  is, 
to  nurture  such  frail  things  as  fill  this  vase  unto 
courage  to  bloom.  Spring,  the  grandest  season  of 
all  the  year;  spring,  the  very  advent  of  God  in  sky 
and  earth,  always  in  sorrow  and  affliction  stands  by 
the  bedside  at  Nature's  birth. 

Just  so  in  religion.  It  always  was  so,  and  always 
will  be  so;  hence  no  strange  thing.  It  is  a  natural 
thing.  We  need  not  be  troubled  about  arguing  for 
or  against  supernaturalism  or  miracles.  I  never 
spent  thirty  minutes  in  that  sort  of  intellectual 
amusement.  A  barren  exercise  this  of  pecking  at 
the  supernatural.  Men  may  pile  up  as  many  folios 
as  they  please  through  the  ages,  and  I  will  not  pick 
a  flaw  in  one  of  them.  Still,  the  great  truth  against 
which  they  assume  to  argue  shall  live  on,  and  throb 
on,  and  throb  for  ever;  for  it  is  founded  originally 
in  the  nature  of  things.  And  the  nature  of  things,  or 
whatever  rests  in  the  nature  of  things,  is  reasonable. 
Whatever  is  founded  in  the  nature  of  things,  is 
among  the  most  inevitable  things  in  the  world. 
Therefore,  I  say,  for  these  reasons  and  others  that  I 


THE  IDEA   OF  THE  SORROW  ELEMENT.      203 

might  add,  it  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world 
that  the  Christ  of  God  should  be  a  man  of  sorrow 
and  acquainted  with  grief. 

Ah  !  says  one,  so  much  grief,  so  much  sorrow  in 
a  religion  of  joy!  I  thought  when  I  got  into  the 
gospel,  or  the  gospel  into  me,  I  had  got  done 
aching;  no  more  anguish,  nothing  more  of  pain.  I 
thought  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  ache  for  me, 
whispers  a  sensitive  demurrer.  That  is  the  old  whis- 
per. Ache  for  me  that  I  need  not  ache  at  all ;  and 
my  praises  are  due  to  Him  that  He  did  n't  quail  and 
that  I  got  rid  of  all  trouble,  He  taking  it  as  my  sub- 
stitute. Yes,  that  is  the  idea  of  great  multitudes. 
Whereas,  the  true  idea  of  Christly  suffering  is  the 
idea  of  a  /if e  persistence,  as  held  for  the  time  being  in 
the  thrall  of  imprisonment  and  restraint,  and  in  the 
battle  of  death.  The  idea  of  suffering  is  the  idea  of 
persistence  of  life,  greater  than  any  contradiction  that 
can  meet  or  assail  it;  an  idea  that  there  is  something 
in  life  superior  to  anything  that  can  antagonize  life, 
and  that  it  will  come  at  last  to  self-assertion  and 
self-crowning.  Take  a  homely  illustration.  A  boy 
of  twelve  or  thirteen  aches  from  mere  growth,  as  the 
persistence  of  his  physical  life  fights  the  battle  out 
of  raw  immaturity  into  the  victory  of  manly  strength. 
Ever  is  it  the  consciousness  of  having  done  wrong, 
that  makes  one  ache  out  of  wrong  into  right.  The 
capacity  for  normal  sorrow  as  normal  life,  treads  the 
ascending  pathway;  the  capacity  for  abnormal  sorrow 
as  it  forsakes  the  ascending  and  turns  to  the  down- 
ward grade,  is  repentance.  Here  lies  the  idea  of  the 
sorrow  element  in  the  economy  of  the  world. 


204         A  SUFFERING  CHRIST  REASONABLE. 

These  are  the  truths  we  ought  to  celebrate  to-day. 
We  shrink  and  grow  less  and  less  every  time  we 
keep  the  sacrament  as  if  it  were  the  celebration  of  a 
suffering  Christ  who  suffered  in  our  place  that  we 
might  live  without  suffering.  It  is  when  you  fill  up 
"what  remains"  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  it  is  when 
you  repeat  them  for  the  very  ends  for  which  they 
were  taken  and  endured  by  Him,  that  the  promise  is 
yours.  These  great  world  truths  should  ring  from 
us  to-day.  We  should  take  these  simply  as  a  flag, 
and  float  it  heaven-high,  emblazoned  with  the  mot- 
toes, Love,  Sorrow,  Victory.  It  should  blaze  with 
these  powers  and  inspirations.  This  is  what  we 
should  unfurl  it  for  to-day. 

The  communion  season,  at  least  for  1500  years 
of  Christendom,  has  been  regarded  as  a  fence- 
separating  one  class  of  people  from  another;  the 
great  divisive  or  partition  wall  to  keep  men  apart ; 
the  assumption  being,  that  those  on  one  side  are 
better  and  more  like  God  than  those  on  the  other. 
They  ought  to  be,  certainly;  if  there  is  any  justice 
in  the  separation  they  must  be.  But  to  be  like  God 
is  to  be  very  different  from  most  of  us.  To  be  like 
God  is  to  be  possessors  of  grand  inspirations,  and 
grand  principles,  and  powers,  and  virtues,  and  truths. 
It  is  to  be  the  possessors  of  noble  characters.  It  is 
to  be  the  holders  of  grand  personal  forces,  able  to 
propagate  themselves  in  the  world  far  and  wide, 
furthering  its  redemption. 

This  communion   service,   rightly  viewed,  is   not 
meant  to  divide  but    to    bring  the  world  together. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMUNION.  205 

It  does  not  care  a  straw  wKat  human  church  you 
belong  to.  It  does  not  care  a  withered  leaf  what 
creed  commands  your  name.  It  cares  not  an  iota 
for  human  speculations.  This  symbol  should  be 
taken  and  lifted  aloft  by  every  soul  belonging  to 
the  spiritual  church  of  God.  I  don't  say  it  is  im- 
possible for  you  to  belong  to  the  spiritual  church 
of  God  unless  you  are  a  member  of  my  church,  or 
my  neighbor's  church,  or  some  other  church.  Ex- 
ternally you  may  belong  to  no  church.  You  must 
take  all  that  responsibility  yourself.  The  question 
is  whether  you  belong  to  God's  church,  which  is 
somewhat  larger  than  yours  or  mine  ;  whether  you 
have  taken  these  great  powers  and  inspirations  of 
conflict  and  victory,  of  character-making  and  Christ- 
making,  into  your  humanity ;  whether  they  throb  in 
your  bosom,  and  are  enthroned  in  regency  in  your 
life.  If  they  are,  then  all  other  questions  are 
secondary,  and  you  belong  to  God's  church.  Very 
careful,  therefore,  should  he  be,  whether  Papal  or 
Protestant  usurper,  who  puts  an  exscinding  hand  upon 
you,  if  you  belong  to  God's  church. 

I  think  this  communion  season  should  bringr 
churches  together,  so  far  as  they  are  worth  any- 
thing. Churches  may  excommunicate  each  other, 
declaring  no  church  is  God's  church  but  mine ;  but 
the  moment  we  do  that  we  cease  to  be  Christians, 
and  become  pharisees  and  bigots.  We  drop  Chris- 
tianity and  take  up  schism.  We  may  say  this  man 
or  that  man  is  a  Judas.     But  that  don't  make  him 

so  —  nor  unmake  him  if  he  is.      Man  is  not  com- 
18 


206         A  SUFFERING  CHRIST  REASONABLE* 

missioned  for  such  work.  Somebody  else  had  better 
that  stone.  J  aclases  never  stay  long  at  the 
communion.  The  atmosphere  is  uncongenial ;  they 
always  go  out  and  hang  themselves.  Nothing  is 
to  be  feared  from  open,  broad  communion  of  all 
churches.  God's  way  is  to  leave  men  free;  to  pour 
down  light  and  life  upon  them,  and  leave  the  rest  to 
their  responsibility. 

This  great  matter  of  religion  is  working  down  un- 
derneath and  out  of  sight.  A  great  many  of  you  I 
meet  from  day  to  day,  who  are  called  outsiders  —  on 
the  other  side  of  the  fence.  You  don't  come  in  here; 
you  say  we  will  not  let  you  come.  And  there  is 
some  truth,  I  suppose,  in  what  you  say.  You  hold 
up  this  testimony  that  we  have  in  print  here,  the 
Creed  and  the  Manual.  Well,  you  have  more  re- 
spect a  great  many  times  for  what  is  printed  here, 
than  we  have  for  what  you  think  is  printed  here.  If 
you  would  just  take  our  meaning  of  it  you  would  be 
wiser.  If  you  are  a  real  Christ  man  or  Christ  woman, 
you  belong  to  the  great  church  of  God  ;  and  you 
have  no  right  to  take  your  portion  and  hide  it  in 
your  bosom  or  under  your  bed.  We  have  no  right 
to  live  here  in  Milwaukee  in  a  religious  and  gospel 
civilization,  caring  not  an  iota  for  India,  or  Persia,  or 
anything  else.  I  excuse  myself  a  great  deal,  and  I 
excuse  you ;  for  we  have  been  taught  greatly  a  re- 
ligion of  selfishness.  And  yet  we  must  remember 
that  any  man  in  the  church  or  outside  the  church, 
who  will  do  right  and  tell  the  truth  because  he  is 
afraid  he  will  be  punished  if  he  does  not,  will  bear 


CHARACTER   THE  BOND  OF  UNION.  207 

watching.  It  is  just  so  with  religion,  through  and 
through. 

A  man  who  wants  to  be  good,  pivoting  on  the 
motive  of  reward  and  punishment,  could  not  be 
trusted  out  of  sight  of  heaven's  police  were  that 
motive  taken  from  him.  We  ought  to  know  that 
goodness  is  goodness  for  goodness'  sake.  I  should 
tell  the  truth,  not  because  I  shall  smart  if  I  don't. 
Falseness  should  be  ashamed  unto  death  inside, 
though  there  should  be  no  lash  in  the  universe  out- 
side. If  I  am  false,  there  is  a  terrible  acid  and  blister 
working  its  penal  results.  Man  should  be  beautiful 
in  himself.  I  don't  want  to  be  doomed  for  ever  to 
gaze  into  the  looking-glass  where  things  are  not 
beautiful.  I  want  to  round  out  into  true  proportion 
and  symmetry  of  being.  Just  be  manly  and  womanly, 
and  take  these  grand  inspirations  of  the  gospel  as 
the  earth  is  taking  the  sunshine,  then  you  will  begin 
to  bloom,  and  be  pure  and  beautiful  in  soul. 

Be  actuated  by  such  motives,  and  the  church  of 
God  will  break  down  the  partition-walls  and  bring 
men  together ;  and  the  crown  of  their  character,  of 
their  Tightness,  of  their  worth  in  God's  sight,  shall 
be  the  badge  of  distinction  and  the  bond  of  union. 
Then  we  can  unite  in  the  long  pull  and  the  strong 
pull  of  moral  forces,  and  the  world  will  come  to- 
gether. 

O  for  an  abrogation  of  mere  technical  Christians, 
Christians  by  courtesy,  Christians  by  position,  like 
ciphers  at  the  right  hand  of  significant  integers ! 
O    for    the    coming    of  the    meat    and    marrow  of 


2o8         .  /  .S7  7-  /■  /.  R  TNG  t  II A'  /. v  T  R  EASONA  B I 

things,  for  so  we  shall  be  judged  at  last.  This  is 
not  disintegrating,  it  is  integrating  truth,  Christ  and 
life;  it  is  construction,  the  very  breeding  of  God  in 
the  garden  of  our  humanity. 

Keep  mellow  ;  keep  tender.  You  never  like  to  see 
a  hard  man  or  a  hard  woman.  No  man  is  the  worse 
for  being  woman-hearted;  no  woman  is  the  worse 
for  being  strong  in  that  strength  which  nerves  the 
very  heart  of  Deity.  Keep  mellow,  keep  tender  in 
soul.  If  you  study  the  Bible,  do  not  study  it  under 
those  theories  that  make  you  wiry,  bony  or  dry. 
You  may  find  a  great  deal  of  fault  with  it.  There  is 
a  great  deal  in  it  that  doubtless  would  not  have  been 
there  had  the  Bible  been  written  a  hundred  years 
ago.  But  don't  go  to  it  with  the  carping  and  flip- 
pancy that  leaves  you  like  a  dead  dissected  bird, 
songless  as  an  epitaph.  Keep  clear  of  all  that. 
Keep  the  bud  in  your  nature  warm  and  juicy  and 
open.  Then  the  very  atmosphere  of  the  Bible  will  be 
full  of  life-giving  moisture,  and  feed  you  with  its 
great  stimulation.  The  first  you  know  you  will  be 
blooming,  and  the  next  you  will  be  bearing  fruit. 
Men  sometimes  go  at  the  Bible  as  a  woodpecker 
goes  at  trees,  only  to  find  the  worms.  You  will  only 
be  worm-fed  if  you  do  so. 

Don't  peck  at  Christians  either;  they  are  poor 
feeding  enough.  It  is  not  well  to  whet  appetites  on 
the  evils  of  mankind.  They  make  diseased  blood. 
Turn  to  the  great  model,  the  church  spiritual,  the 
Jerusalem  above,  which  is  the  mother  of  us  all. 
Greaten  your  nature  and  your  conceptions  of  what 


CONFLICT  AND    VICTORY.  200, 

is  noble  and  charitable  and  true.  One  of  the  great 
uses  of  sorrow  in  the  world  is  to  keep  its  heart  ten- 
der and  great.  We  all  know  that  joy  is  not  perfected 
until  it  is  brewed  over  the  fire  of  grief.  Sorrow  dies 
in  its  culmination;  after  that  comes  the  bloom  of 
ecstasy.  The  last  conflict  is  victory.  Be  gentle  and 
you  will  be  mighty.  The  more  deeply  human,  the 
more  deeply  divine  and  godly  will  you  be. 

Embosom  these  truths  in  your  confidence;  broaden 
your  life  and  deepen  aspiration  from  their  great  life 
and  power.  God  is  down  here  among  the  fading 
flowers  and  the  dying  embers  of  life,  to  retint  vanish- 
ing hues  and  relume  the  brightness  that  fades  into 
shadow.  Sorrow  and  grief  are  among  the  heavenly 
mordants  that  prepare  the  soul  for  the  fast  colors  of 
glory,  and  help  God  to  paint  His  name  in  it  in  letters 

living,  indelible,  immortal. 
18*  O 


XIV. 
DOMINION  (>/■'  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER, 

As  he  prayed,  the  fashion  of  his  countenance 
was  changed.  —  Luke  ix.  29. 

THERE  is  a  truth  here  —  in  this  simple  language 
—  of  deep  and  wondrous  beauty.  It  shines  out 
like  a  star  on  the  face  of  night,  or  the  glowing  sun 
from  behind  his  cloud-screens.  Fire  from  heaven 
had  come  down  and  been  kindled  in  its  alabaster 
vase.  Another  glory  beams  out  through  the  thin 
transparency,  timeward.  Light  permeates  the  wall 
from  within  the  temple.  The  vail  itself  is  set  aflame. 
Of  course  we  recognize  in  the  text  the  scene  of 
the  Transfiguration.  Many  theories  and  speculations 
have  been  indulged  in,  respecting  the  nature  and 
design  of  this  marvelous  incident  in  the  life  of  the 
Saviour,  but  into  these  we  care  not  to  enter.  About 
such  facts,  fancy  has  ever  been,  and  ever  will  be, 
busy.  Standing  upon  the  boundary  line,  where  the 
natural  and  the  supernatural  touch,  the  reason  and 
imagination  of  man  find  themselves  in  a  twilight 
where  the  costumes  of  fiction  are  very  apt  to  person- 
ate sober  fact,  and  all  visions  to  stand  at  fault  in  the 
clear  light  of  day.  Men  have  put  a  great  many  things 
into  the  Bible  that  never  had  an  existence  even  out- 
side of  it;   and  have  drawn  a  great  many  things  out 

of  it  that  were  never  in  it.     Much  of  what  has  been 

210 


ANCHOR  NOT  TO  THE  PAST.  211 

wrought  into  what  is  called  the  sacred  literature  of 
Christendom,  will  vanish  when  the  sun  shines  by 
and  by ;  and  no  small  portion  of  what  men  are 
pleased  to  call  established  scientific  theology,  will 
drop  into  forgetfulness  as  the  mind  of  the  world 
rises  towards  the  zenith  of  its  illumination.  We 
should  always  be  careful  about  anchoring  to  the  past; 
it  is  raw,  crude,  and  prevents  growth.  To  regard 
the  merely  accidental  and  provisional  aspects  of 
truth  as  truth  itself,  is  to  mistake  the  chips  of  the 
workman  for  the  statue  or  temple  he  fashioned.  We 
can  often  get  the  spirit  and  inspiration  of  a  subject 
long  before  we  get  the  form.  This  is  always  the 
order  of  life ;  it  clothes  itself  in  its  own  form.  Life 
is,  from  necessity,  form-giving ;  but  form  is  never 
life-giving.  Therefore  if  we  take  the  form  first  we 
get  nothing  but  death.  This  is  the  curse  of  art  and 
the  grave  of  genius.  But  nowhere  is  formalism  so 
dead  and  damaging  to  the  soul  as  in  religion. 

We  may  say,  however,  this  much  with  confidence, 
that  in  this  scene  of  the  transfiguration  we  have  God 
set  forth  in  the  midst  of  the  human  race  ;  a  theophany 
wherein  everything  appears  really  carried  into  effect, 
which  human  fancy,  springing  from  the  real  longings 
of  the  human  soul,  has  arrayed  in  mystic  forms,  and 
thrown  as  a  beauteous  garb  around  the  histories  of 
other  nations.  All  mythology  is  but  the  stammer- 
ing of  a  true  longing  of  the  soul ;  a  religious  neces- 
sity, seeking  to  incarnate  itself  in  the  spectral  shades 
of  mere  natural  twilight.  Without  revelation  the 
world  worships  the  "  unknown  God."     In  the  Bible 


212         DOMINION  Oh  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER. 

where  God  clearly  declares  Himself,  in  the  incarnate 
Word,  transfigured,  crucified,  resurgent,  glorified, 
these    longings  are  met  —  legitimately  met     Here 

are  the  great  answers  to  the  questions  born  in  man 
by  nature.  Every  picture  in  the  Bible  means  some- 
thing; every  event  is  heavy  with  significance  which 
our  life  stands  in  need  of.  All  the  gorgeous  sym- 
bolism there,  couches  a  glory  or  a  gloom  counter- 
stated  in  us.  And  while  we  may  not  take  the  image 
for  the  thing,  or  the  letter  for  the  spirit,  still  the  potent 
significance  therein  we  may  receive,  and  take  it  as  a 
life  which  shall  reclothe  itself,  through  our  experience, 
in  garments  of  life  and  crowns  of  life. 

The  truth  underlying  the  text,  and  upon  which  I 
would  fix  attention  at  this  time,  is  far  enough  removed 
from  all  speculative  and  obsolete  considerations,  lying 
directly  within  our  practical  life.  It  takes  us  into 
some  of  the  loftiest  ranges  of  the  soul's  capabilities, 
and  is  at  the  foundation  of  all  genuine  and  best  cul- 
ture. I  refer  to  the  power  which  all  high  and  com- 
manding themes  have,  taking  possession  of  the  soul, 
to  manifest  themselves  in  the  character,  asserting  the 
dominion  of  spirit  over  matter,  subjecting  body  to 
soul. 

And  the  intimate  connection  of  soul  and  body  is 
the  first  thing  we  have  to  observe.  As  he  prayed, 
the  fashion  of  his  coiuitcnaticc  was  changed  —  changed 
to  a  glow,  lighted  up,  kindled.  This  was  from  no 
outward  illumination,  a  borrowed  light  reflected  from 
the  surface.  The  lamp  was  inside.  A  fire  was  burn- 
ing behind  the  transparency.     There  was  a  glory-lit 


THE  FACE  IMAGES  THE  SOUL.  21$ 

passion  of  soul,  deeper  than  the  face,  shining  out 
through  the  face,  which  consumed  everything  in  its 
own  lustre,  subjecting  even  physical  functions  to  its 
own  uses.  There  was  a  law  within  mightier  than 
the  law  without ;  the  sceptre  of  spirit  flashing  in  the 
realm  of  matter;  an  orb  of  glory  shooting  up  its 
kindling  rays  over  the  hills  of  nature,  and  filling  the 
mental  atmosphere  with  dawn  and  daybreak  eternal. 
It  was  the  dominion  of  soul  over  body. 

The  next  thing  we  notice  is  the  fitness  of  the  one 
to  be  a  revelation  of  the  other.  The  face  is  the  lan- 
guage of  the  soul;  looks  translate  consciousness.  It 
was  because  his  soul  was  on  fire  that  the  fashion  of 
his  countenance  was  changed.  The  intimate  con- 
nection between  body  and  spirit,  that  enabled  the 
conscious  artist  within  to  flash  out  its  kindling  visions 
through  clay,  and  paint  the  shifting  sceneries  of  the 
soul  in  the  countenance,  was  asserted  on  Mount 
Tabor. 

This  is  what  we  may  know  and  see  and  feel  in  every 
hour  of  our  life.  The  face  mirrors  the  thought ;  sen- 
timent kindles  in  the  eye ;  storm  looms  and  lowers 
on  the  brow  ;  fear  trails  its  shadow  there,  and  hope 
sits  like  a  sunrise.  The  countenance  translates  the 
mystic  meanings  of  the  life  within.  The  face  is  a 
telegraph  full  of  messages  from  the  spirit  world. 
The  lines  and  phases  and  variations  of  expression 
we  wear,  are  but  the  changes  of  the  fashions,  the 
wardrobes,  gorgeous  or  meagre,  of  the  feelings  and 
fancies  and  moods  that  play  themselves  off  within 
us.      They    are    the    windows    through    which    the 


2  14        DOMINION  (>/   SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER. 

passers-by  outside  look  in  and  behold  tin-  changing 
acts  and  shifting  scenes  of  the  ever  busy,  hurrying 
drama,  ever  playing  but  never  played,  <>n  the  stage 

of  the  world  within  us. 

I  low  grand  is  this  fact,  especially  in  strong,  stormy, 
emotional  states.  When  the  Jupiter  of  the  scul 
gathers  clouds  about  him,  how  grandly  sits  wrath 
enthroned,  muttering  from  inward  thunders.  The 
countenance  can  look  an  earthquake  when  anger  and 
indignation  put  fire  and  water  together  down  in  the 
nether  deeps  of  man's  nature.  The  face  is  a  tempest 
when  the  soul  is  stung  by  outrage,  meanness  and 
wrong  ;  it  is  a  boiling  sea,  a  volcano.  To-day  you 
meet  your  friend  in  tranquil  mood  ;  the  fashion  of 
his  look  is  serene  and  gentle  as  the  summer  evening. 
Beauty  fills  his  soul,  and  sweetness  and  joy.  To- 
morrow there  is  a  cloud  on  him.  The  air  of  his  eye 
is  murky  and  heavy;  blackness  is  everywhere,  thun- 
ders are  behind  it.  His  soul  is  charged  with  sul- 
phurous energies.  A  tempest  is  brewing;  there  is  a 
storm  in  his  spirit,  and  all  the  imagery  of  look  and 
expression  and  bearing  tell  you  so,  and  seem  to  say, 
Beware!  They  are  soul  revelations  of  the  mastery 
of  spirit  over  body. 

How  instantly  sudden  news,  if  it  break  the  spell 
of  long  suspense  with  the  note  of  gladness,  will  wipe 
oat  the  night  shadows  and  flood  the  face  with  morn- 
ing glories;  just  as,  on  the  other  hand,  if  no  hope 
come  and  the  note  be  a  knell,  how  will  the  same 
countenance  droop  into  the  drapery  of  the  grave, 
and  beauty  dwell  there  in  eye  nor  lip  nor  tone. 


SPIRITUAL  niOTOGRAPHY.  21  5 

The  outward  appearance  from  day  to  day  and 
from  year  to  year,  as  our  life  flows  on  in  all  its  con- 
nected changes,  is  but  a  panorama  of  the  soul,  the 
instantaneous  photography  of  its  vicissitudes,  a  long 
continued  mnemonic  gallery  of  the  varying  lights  and 
shades  and  plots  and  scenic  processions,  of  the  sleep- 
less and  endless  life  within  us.  What  history,  what 
biography,  annals  how  grand,  poems,  pictures,  monu- 
ments, emblems  wreathed  with  hope,  and  veiled 
epitaphs,  legends  of  the  heart,  and  silence,  would  all 
this  record  make,  which  a  man  builds  up  through 
the  years  God  gives  him.  Yes :  we  are  painting 
on  canvas  that  shall  outlast  the  face ;  we  are  chis- 
eling on  tablets,  and  carving  on  pillars,  that  shall 
endure  when  marble  and  brass  are  turned  to  dust. 

But  it  is  due  that  we  notice  with  special  attention, 
in  connection  with  the  truth  we  are  now  considering, 
the  power  and  function  of  Prayer.  For  it  was  as  the 
Saviour  prayed,  the  record  runs,  that  this  glory  came 
upon  him. 

It  is  probably  no  infraction  of  the  laws  of  charity, 
certainly  not  the  intimation  of  any,  to  say  that,  in  the 
true  and  full  sense  of  the  word,  only  a  few  ever  pray. 
Prayer  is  born  of  the  soul,  as  streams  are  of  foun- 
tains, or  as  ecstasies  and  agonies  are  of  the  heart. 
They  cry  out,  or  sing,  of  the  deep  within  us.  A 
prayer  can  never  come  out  of  the  soul  until  it  is  first 
in  it.  First  the  consciousness,  then  the  word  that 
utters  it.  You  cannot  begin  with  words  first,  unless 
they  are  borrowed  words.  But  these  will  be  only  as 
the  dead  leaves  and  dried  roses  of  last  year's  stems. 


2l6       DOMINION  OF  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER. 

You  cannot  use  a  prayer  twice,  any  more  than  you 
can  make  a  flower  bloom  twice.  Even  the  Lord's 
Prayer  was  for  the  spirit  of  it,  showing  the  manner 
of  spirit  we  should  be  of,  not  the  manner  of  words  ; 
just  as  Paul  said  he  was  a  minister  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, not  of  the  letter  but  of  the  spirit.  The  letter 
is  dead.  When  a  soul  comes  to  God  directly  and 
puts  itself  into  vital  connection  with  Him,  without 
any  intervention  of  priest,  altar,  sacrifice,  or  word, 
then  the  soul  becomes  charged  with  God  and  gives 
off  its  sparks  in  words.  The  fire  of  his  nature  warms 
it  up,  kindles  it,  and  it  begins  to  burn  and  bloom, 
and  sing  or  sorrow ;  and  these  manifestations  are  its 
prayer.  But  you  cannot  begin  with  words  and  get 
the  fire  out  of  them  into  you.  Words  are  nothing 
but  ashes  that  are  left  after  the  live  coal  within  is 
consumed,  the  result  and  not  the  means  of  prayer. 
We  go  to  God  not  to  say  things,  but  to  be  kindled 
by  Him  ;  not  to  communicate  information,  but  to  get 
inspiration  out  of  Him  ;  not  to  induce  Him  to  change 
his  purposes,  but  to  get  his  purposes  into  us;  never 
to  bind  Him,  or  obligate  Him,  or  obstruct  or  even 
help  Him,  but  evermore  to  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 
If  men  would  pray  in  the  Christly  way,  they  would 
come  to  Christly  experience.  The  fashion  of  their 
life's  countenance  would  be  changed.  They  would 
come  to  transfigurations  of  soul  and  manhood,  and 
glow  with  inward  revelations.  Words  never  trans- 
figure man.  Transfigurations  come  from  thoughts, 
from  feelings,  from  exaltations.  They  come  from 
things  spiritual,  unseen,  and  eternal  ;   from  what  has 


PR  A  YER  AN  ECSTAC  Y  OF  DESIRE.  2 1 J 

power  to  awaken  the  soul,  to  fire  the  heart,  to  kindle 
the  intellect,  to  rouse  the  conscience,  to  warm  the 
sentiments,  stimulate  devotion,  and  lift  the  whole 
being  through  a  glow  of  mighty  urgency,  toward  the 
Source  of  all  life.  Transfigurations  that  foreshadow 
ascensions,  must  come  from  the  powers  of  the  world 
beyond.  Visions  from  the  face  of  the  All-beauteous 
unveiled  must  seize  men,  and  a  direct,  conscious  in- 
tercourse with  God  the  Eternal  be  had,  if  they  would 
be  transformed  and  transfigured  into  the  spirit  of 
his  own  likeness,  luminous  with  the  prophecy  of 
heaven. 

This  is  no  dream ;  it  is  simply  prayer.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  the  mind's  losing  itself  in  the  infi- 
nite Mind.  The  human  heart  may  yield  itself  to  the 
bosom  of  the  infinite  Life  and  Love,  to  be  kept  and 
cared  for.  Man's  soul  may  just  turn  itself  away 
from  beholding  vanities,  and  look  towards  its  Maker, 
and  enter  into  sympathetic  intercourse  with  Him. 
And  when  it  does,  that  will  be  faith  and  trust.  Then 
it  will  be  touched  with  the  all-kindling  ray  and  pulse 
of  his  being.  And  when  this  is  done,  the  soul,  will 
pray.  Prayer  will  be  born  of  it.  Man  will  be  con- 
sciously lifted  and  filled,  and  God  will  shine  down 
into  him  and  through  him.  His  soul  will  be  changed 
in  its  spiritual  look,  and  the  radiance  of  the  immortal 
countenance  shall  not  be  hid. 

Thus  prayer  ceases  to  be  a  constraint  of  duty,  and 
becomes  an  ecstasy  of  desire.  It  is  no  longer  an 
exercise  in  sacred  literature,  but  a  soul-passion  be- 
fore God.  It  is  a  liberated  impulse  of  heart,  playing 
19 


2l8        DOMINION  01  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER. 

in  its  utmost  freedom;  the  glad,  emancipated  soul 
of  the  child,  breathing  its  note  of  plaint  or  joy  into 
fne  ear  of  the  listening  Father.  In  a  word,  prayer  is 
immortal  hunger  eating  its  own  bread,  and  spiritual 
thirst  drinking  at  the  life-giving  fountain  whose  re- 
freshing brings  ecstasy  to  the  eye,  and  color  to  the 
face,  and  bloom  to  the  lips  of  even  the  mortal  aspect, 
clothing  it  with  a  visible  and  prophetic  glory,  whose 
consummations  are  beyond  these  clay  shrines  of 
earth. 

The  power  of  prayer  as  an  intellectual  stimulant  is 
very  great.  It  will  not  solve  problems  in  geometry, 
or  give  the  sluggard  daily  bread  without  work.  But 
the  very  act  of  prayer,  if  it  be  true  prayer,  throws 
the  mind  into  the  highest  intellectual  state  as  well 
as  the  deepest  emotional.  If  you  put  the  battery  of 
the  infinite  brain  to  yours,  why  should  n't  it  wake? 
The  best  prayers  are  always  the  best  thinkers.  For 
an  intellect  all  alive  with  the  Divine,  Infinite  Mind, 
will,  of  course,  be  intensely  wakeful,  living  and  richly 
productive.  Prayer,  of  course,  cannot  paint  a  pic- 
ture ;  but  the  soul  of  genius  fired  and  set  all  aflame 
by  inspirations  from  above  itself,  will  be  in  the  best 
condition  to  do  anything.  Up  in  the  high  region  of 
prayer,  immortal  life  shines  upon  the  thought  sum- 
mits, and  they  are  warmed  down  to  the  very  roots. 
Summer  gales  come  sweeping  over  the  tropical 
land  of  the  mind,  and  hidden  life  blooms  out  of  it. 
Eternity  sings  in  the  heart,  and  new-born  joy  blushes 
on  all  the  face  of  life,  and  man  is  glorified  when  he 
prays. 


PRAYER  STIMULATES  THE  INTELLECT.       2\g 

This  is  the  preparation  which  all  true  men  seek 
when  they  have  any  great  work  to  do.  When  Moses 
communed  with  God  in  the  Mount,  he  came  down 
shining  in  face.  It  made  Paul  another  being,  when, 
in  the  heavenly  exaltation,  things  were  revealed  to 
him  which  he  could  not  tell.  And  apostles  and 
martyrs  have  felt,  in  the  rapt  moods  of  all  days,  this 
stimulating  force  upon  their  minds  for  their  work. 
Reason  boasts  of  its  independence  of  prayer  some- 
times, but  it  is  a  vain  boast.  As  well  might  the 
April  earth  boast  of  independence  of  the  sun  in 
heaven.  Intellect  withers  and  freezes  without  this 
replenishing  life  and  fire  from  Above. 

But  nowhere  more  than  in  the  closet  does  this 
truth  we  are  discussing  assert  itself.  Many  a  hidden 
sanctuary  is  a  Tabor.  The  devout  soul  in  the  closet 
understands  this.  Could  mortal  eye  look  in,  when 
the  door  is  shut,  while  some  sainted  soul  is  far  up 
on  its  light-seeking  errands,  glory  would  be  signalled 
in  the  countenance  of  the  worshiper,  and  daybreak 
of  other  worlds.  In  no  hour  is  the  true  man  so 
serene  in  face,  so  tranquil,  balanced,  exalted  and 
strong,  as  when  he  comes  from  the  hidings  of  the 
inner  life  where  God  has  been  sought  in  communion. 
It  is  grand  for  man  to  be  alone  on  the  mountains 
with  God  a  little  while  in  the  morning,  before  plung- 
ing into  the  rush  of  the  day.  He  who  never  knows 
solitude  will  never  reach  true  greatness.  Man  must 
be  alone  sometimes,  or  die.  In  retreats  of  mental 
loneliness  and  heart  isolation,  our  sensibilities  flood 
up  into  the  purest  light,  and  catch  the  radiance  that 
gilds  the  prospect  of  heaven. 


220  MINION  OF  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER. 

Rut  touching  the  power  of  prayer,  it  must  be  re- 
marked that  it  is  in  the  stressful  hours  of  the  soul, 
when  it  is  in  straits,  when  a  world  hangs  upon  it  and 
it  is  pressed  by  some  mighty  urgency  of  impending 
woe,  that  prayer  has  its  greatest  power.  God  is 
most  to  us  when  most  needed,  in  times  of  heart- 
break, when  we  go  down  into  the  valley  all  alone, 
a\m\  the  world  is  sunless.  Then  lie  seems  to  come 
and  break  over  the  barriers  that  wall  Him  off  from 
our  spirits,  and  leaps  down  into  the  heart  of  our 
intercessions,  rolling  away  the  mountains,  lifting  the 
clouds,  and  swallowing  up  all  the  old  night  of  despair 
in  the  fresh  brightness  of  his  presence.  Prayer  then 
becomes  a  transfiguration  that  converts  even  death 
into  a  revelation.  The  vale  of  darkness  becomes  a 
Tabor,  and  the  drapery  of  the  grave  an  ascension 
robe.  Thousands  have  emerged  from  their  prisons 
singing,  and  gone  up  with  radiant  look  in  chariots  of 
flame.  Thus  it  was  with  Christ  when  he  strengthened 
himself  for  his  hour.  His  soul  was  in  transfigura- 
tions while  a  world  hung  upon  him.  In  that  night 
of  darkness  God  tented,  and  a  glory  was  lit  there 
from  beyond  all  veils. 

Somehow  it  seems  to  be  ordered  that  no  face  shall 
shine  sweetest  till  the  shadows  have  passed  over  it. 
These  prepare  it  for  the  higher  burnishing.  Sweet- 
est tones  are  born  of  complaining  discords.  God 
and  heaven  come  to  us  through  fhe  cress.  The 
scenery  of  the  natural  heavens  is  never  so  grand  as 
when  hung  with  dark  convolutions  of  cloud-drapery, 
when  the  sun  is  behind,  shooting  his  radiance  through 


GOOD  SOULS  MAKE  BRIGHT  FACES.  221 

the  folds,  and  kindling  it  all  into  burning  throne- 
glories  of  sapphire  and  gold.  So  with  the  soul  in 
the  spiritual  clouds.  If  God  can  come  into  it  then, 
its  sky  is  transfigured,  it  is  a  burning  temple.  And 
prayer  is  the  torch  that  can  kindle  that  flame. 

But  let  us  advance  a  little  for  a  different  view. 
The  truth  we  are  considering  is  not  limited  to  the 
sphere  of  prayer,  technically  so  designated.  When- 
ever any  great  and  glorious  subject  takes  hold  of  the 
mind  powerfully,  it  is  of  the  nature  of  things  that  it 
should  be  lifted  to  higher  planes  of  light  and  force. 
High  intellectual  pursuits  report  themselves  in  the 
bearing  and  manners  of  men.  The  general  aspect 
of  life  is  their  revelation.  The  atmosphere  about 
such  lives  is  surcharged  with  latent  meaning.  As  a 
general  thing,  men  who  think  best  look  best,  behave 
best,  enjoy  themselves  best.  A  good  soul  makes  a 
good  countenance.  A  fine,  intelligent  spirit,  with 
the  fires  of  intellect  burning  inside,  will  light  up 
plain  features  and  make  even  homely  ones  comely. 
Cosmetics  will  not  do  this,  but  thought  will,  beauti- 
ful sentiment  will.  Fine  and  lofty  feelings  will  glow 
there  as  gold  in  sunsets  and  purple  in  dawns.  The 
vernal  fires  blazing  within  will  keep  bloom  outside 
and  keep  off  wrinkles  better  than  the  sorceries  of 
the  toilet,  and  send  the  violets  blooming  down 
beneath  the  snow-crust  of  years.  I  have  often 
wondered  that  the  beauty-loving  passion  of  our  race 
did  not  take  more  pains  to  plant  the  seeds  of  im- 
mortal youth  where  they  would  be  most  likely  to 
live  and  give  back  their  verdure  and  bloom  peren- 
19* 


222        DOMINION  OF  SPIRI1   i  MATTER. 

nially.  The  greatest  thing  God  ever  made  of  clay, 
is  the  human  countenance.     Sometimes  it  is  nothing 

to  look  at  of  itself,  cast  in  no  model  of  symmetry, 
grace  or  majesty.  Like  porcelain  transparence,  such 
may  present  neither  comeliness  nor  meaning  of  them- 
selves. Hut  let  the  fires  be  kindled  on  the  other 
side,  put  the  light  behind  the  transparency,  start  the 
flame  in  the  candlestick  of  the  soul,  and  lo !  all  is 
transfigured  in  a  moment.  The  clay  becomes  glori- 
fied. Beauty  that  is  fadeless  beams  and  trembles  in 
every  line,  and  glows  in  magic  tracery  on  the  veil. 

The  fine  moods  of  genius  are  all  fulfilments  of  this 
law.  It  flings  its  inspirations  outward.  Here  the 
soul  is  artist,  incarnating  ideals.  Milton's  face  was  a 
thousand  times  a  poem.  Beethoven's  symphony  ami 
Raphael's  transfiguration  the  canvas  never  caught, 
while  his  of  Patmos  was  a  New  Jerusalem  come  down 
out  of  heaven  from  God.  The  fashion  of  the  coun- 
tenance may  be  the  grandest  rehearsal  of  inward 
glories.  It  is  every  one's  duty  to  keep  such  a  fashion. 
Some  inspiration  should  be  shining  out  all  the  time. 
God  made  the  countenance  to  be  a  reminder  of  Him- 
self. It  should  speak  or  sing  or  glow  from  some 
spark  struck  from  its  Maker,  that  the  night  side  of  the 
veil  may  hold  the  promise  of  morning. 

Even  the  ravages  of  time  may  be  stayed  to  a  good 
extent  by  the  high  dominion  of  spirit  over  body.  It 
is  not  needful  that  souls  grow  old.  Strong  fire  may 
burn  upon  wintry  hearths,  and  the  bud  and  bloom  of 
immortal  youth  may  be  putting  forth  from  the  in- 
terior,  while   even    the   outward    husk    is   dropping 


THE  FACE  MEANS  CHARACTER.  223 

away.  Time  will  make  the  veil  only  more  trans- 
parent if  we  say  so.  The  brightest  glories  may  be 
mirrored  at  last. 

Thus  have  we  turned  the  phases  of  our  many-sided 
theme.  One  thing  stands  foremost:  The  soul  is  king ; 
the  mind  is  the  man.  Whatever  is  uppermost  in 
character  is  apt  to  be  conspicuous  in  life  and  behavior, 
and  will  name  us  when  life  and  all  appearances 
are  done.  What  were  these  bodies,  the  finest  look 
flashing  with  nameless  wonder,  were  they  not  the 
spirit's  shrine  ?  What  but  a  casket  without  a  jewel, 
dark  lanterns,  lumps  of  clay,  fireless  shadows  ! 

The  face,  then,  means  character.  The  general 
aspect  and  bearing,  the  air  and  expression  which  fix 
the  individuality  of  the  man,  are  determined  by  the 
thoughts  that  populate  his  brain,  the  feelings  that 
animate  his  heart.  This  does  not  mean  to  contra- 
vene the  general  statement  that  appearances  may 
deceive,  but  to  affirm  the  truth  that  the  general  at- 
mosphere of  one's  personality  is  determined  by  the 
character  of  his  inner  life.  Strong  purposes  outline 
themselves  in  the  features;  strong  passions  burn  and 
cut  their  deep  channels  where  lines  of  beauty  ought 
to  curve.  And  how  gross  and  grovelling  propensities 
trail  their  muddy  records  where  signals  of  glory 
ought  to  be  flying;  while  care  furrows  and  discontent 
wrinkles  the  brow  of  life,  and  vanity  flutters  her  tell- 
tale signals  in  every  breeze.  Just  as,  on  the  other 
hand,  calm  sereneness  on  the  summer  sky,  light  on 
the  distant  hills,  tell  us  how  beautiful  feelings  repose 
in  human  looks.     Sweetness  and  serenity  of  spirit 


22  I       DOMINION  0}   SPIH IT  OVER  MATTER. 

lave  the  countenance  with  the  hues  of  other  worlds. 
All  beaut}'  dethroned  within,  makes  the  outward 
temple  a  ruin  —  a  wreck  and  chaos.  Beauty  lit,  and 
her  lamp  burning  at  the  centre,  throws  out  her 
luminous  shadows  all  around,  outlining  a  temple 
imperishable. 

At  any  rate,  there  is  a  glory  which  man  rcach< :s 
only  by  the  pathway  of  highest  thoughts,  those  that 
arc  truest,  noblest,  most  regal  in  themselves.  Hence 
it  is  a  sacred  duty  as  it  is  a  privilege  abiding  with 
every  man,  to  live  above  himself,  to  keep  the  corn- 
pan)-  and  be  under  the  draft  of  endeavors  and  aspi- 
rations self- transcending.  This  is  the  marvelous 
boon  of  being.  Upon  just  this  ascension  path  Christ 
came  to  put  us  and  lead  us.  Such  is  our  nature,  that 
unless  we  rise  we  inevitably  sink.  God  has  made  us 
expectant  of  new  and  perpetual  morn.  We  glow  in 
true  lustre  only  as  we  near  the  purple  gateways.  If 
we  turn  the  organ  of  spiritual  vision  downward  to 
darkness,  it  perishes. 

But  just  because  our  ascension  path  is  a  stairway 
of  the  highest,  noblest  thoughts,  are  we  obliged  to 
come  at  last  to  religious  thoughts.  There  are  no 
highest  but  these.  No  others  take  us  on  to  a  life 
above  nature.  These  do.  God  is  in  them,  and  they 
are  God  in  us.  Here  is  immortality.  All  fire  of 
soul  that  shall  not  go  out,  emanates  from  this  sun. 
The  fadeless  flowers  of  mind  and  heart  bloom  from 
the  quickening  touch  of  this  summer  life.  No  soul 
can  live  without  religion.  It  will  shrink  and  wither, 
and  become  lean  and  haggard  and  lost,  untrans- 
figured. 


THE  MOUNT  OF  TRANSFIGURATION.  22$ 

And  so  here  we  come  round  again  to  the  great 
fact  we  started  with,  viz.:  the  highest  form  of  religion 
in  conscious  exercise  is  prayer.  It  was  as  he  prayed, 
we  remember,  that  the  fashion  of  his  countenance 
was  changed.  Here  is  not  only  the  soul's  hunger, 
but  its  feeding,  its  reception  and  assimilation  of  the 
divine  nurture.  We  come  to  banquets  in  this  uplifted 
consciousness,  into  the  tinted  glories  of  peace  and 
life ;  we  pluck  rays  from  the  eternal  Mind ;  we  take 
God  into  the  soul  when  we  pray.  Here  is  the  mount ; 
here  the  truest  transfiguration  to  us  mortals  here  in 
time. 

But  more  grand  and  glorious  than  any  fashion  of 
countenance,  more  expressive  than  any  mirrored 
ecstasies  of  thought  or  sentiment  in  the  human  face, 
is  that  embodiment  of  truth  and  power  which  is  con- 
tained in  the  sum  total  of  a  good  man's  life.  What 
we  signify  of  soul  and  being  in  the  connected  phases 
and  changes  that  make  up  our  moral  probation,  the 
finish  of  our  manhood  and  womanhood,  this  is  the 
great  verdict  of  the  question  on  trial.  If  life  be 
divinely  transfigured,  then  comes  color  to  its  earnest 
countenance,  which  the  blood  of  cleansing  meant  to 
give.  The  soul  beams  forth  in  this  great  broad  out- 
look, an  earnest  of  the  life  to  come. 

And  then,  when  we  come  to  think  of  it,  how  do 
we  know  but  these  countenances  of  time  shall  be 
familiar  in  eternity?  These  old  personalities,  the 
illuminated  looks  and  remembrances  of  to-day,  im- 
mortalized?    What  shall  we  be  there  but  just  these? 

Be  it  ours,  then,  to  see  that  the  lights  are  beau- 

P 


226       DOMINION  OF  SPIRIT  OVER  MATTER. 

teous ;  that  the  fashion  of  the  immortal  countenance 
be  like  unto  that  of  the  Son  of  God.  Heaven  is  the 
soul  transfigured  with  celestial  brightness.  No  look 
of  sin  or  shame  or  sorrow  shall  be  there,  but  the 
glory  of  the  Lamb  lighting  it  with  eternal  day. 

There  was  once  on  earth  a  perfect  life  ;  it  was 
cradled  in  innocence;  its  childhood  was  a  summer 
day  of  veiled  light  and  waxing  wonders;  its  man- 
hood stern,  stormy,  grand,  but  gentle ;  and  its  exit  a 
convulsion  that  shattered  the  prisons  of  darkness 
and  despair,  and  planted  the  signals  of  eternal  dis- 
aster over  sin,  death,  and  hell.  It  lit  the  torch  of 
hope  on  the  pathway  of  mortals,  and  left  it  burning, 
and  then  passed  into  shadow.  Be  it  ours  to  follow 
that  life ;  in  the  dawn  and  in  the  noonday ;  down 
through  the  valley  and  up  the  ascension  path  ;  till, 
with  Him  and  Elias  and  Moses,  and  all  the  glorified, 
we  come  to  the  great  assembly  at  the  right  hand  of 
God. 


XV. 

DEB  77  —  OR  GIFT? 

Hereby  perceive  we  the  lave  of  God,  because 
Christ  laid  down  his  life  for  us. 

I  John  iii.  16. 
Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends. 

John  xv.  13. 

PERHAPS  some  of  you  noticed,  the  other  day, 
that  President  Finney,  in  conducting  a  commu- 
nion service  of  several  associated  churches,  I  believe, 
invited  not  only  members  of  all  churches  to  remain, 
but  in  addition  to  church-members,  invited  also  per- 
sons not  members  of  any  church,  who,  nevertheless, 
wished  to  be  followers  of  the  Truth  and  Life,  to  tarry 
at  the  service.     That  was  Mr.  Finney. 

I  endorse  the  act  heartily ;  and  I  only  wait  for  the 
time  to  come  when  all  the  churches  shall  endorse  it 
—  for  the  time  surely  will  come.  And  if  this  church 
is  ready  for  it,  and  by  vote  or  any  other  way  will 
commission  me  to  give  that  invitation,  I  shall  be 
ready.  I  am  outgrowing  artificial  distinctions  more 
and  more  every  day.  A  man  is  a  man,  true  or  false, 
and  a  Christian  is  a  Christian,  not  by  virtue  of  the 
pew  he  occupies,  the  church  he  attends,  or  his 
ecclesiastical  status,  but  by  virtue  of  his  character 
and  essential  worth  before  God. 

If  any  of  you  take  comfort  in  so  thinking,  I  am 

227 


2-'S  Dl  B1 '  ?—  OR  GUT? 

glad.     But  you  must  remember,  also,  that  while  you 

have  comfort  as  a  man  and  a  Christian  outside,  there 
are  a  great  many  reasons  why  you  should  rejoice  in 
all  this  inside.  Christianity  and  manhood  organized, 
make  an  institution  of  unspeakable  power.  A  church, 
animated  by  a  sense  of  its  own  proper  significance, 
is  a  spiritual  engine  in  the  world  for  truth  and  virtue, 
whose  potency  is  without  a  peer.  It  asserts  God  ; 
scatters  light;  educates  and  exalts  man;  and  is  the 
new  spiritual  kingdom  in  its  measure.  Men  come 
into  churches  under  the  laws  of  affinity.  True  men 
seek  their  affiliation  not  artificially  but  spiritually, 
sympathetically  j  not  to  be  saved,  but  to  assert  the 
power  of  salvation.  The  force  of  each  is  thus  multi- 
plied by  that  of  all.  So  we  give  the  usual  invitation 
this  morning,  subject  to  the  judgment  and  conscience 
of  each  one. 

And  now  I  invite  your  attention  to  these  grand 
words  :  "  Hereby  perceive  we  the  love  of  God,  because 
Christ  laid  down  his  life  for  us."  Here,  at  any  rate, 
the  death  of  Christ  expressed  the  love  of  God.  Again, 
in  the  gospel  of  John  :  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man 
than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 
Exactly  what  Christ  did.  But  that  is  not  all.  Listen 
further  :  "  God  hath  commended  his  love  tozcard  us,  in 
that  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us,"  — 
for  foes  even,  as  well  as  friends.  Broader  even  than 
Mr.  Finney,  Christ  is.  And  why  all  that?  For  God 
so  loved  the  -world  that  He  gave  his  only  Son  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life. 


CHRIST'S  DEA TH  EXPRESSES  LOVE.        2 29 

I  know  these  are  picked  passages.  The  Bible  is 
made  from  the  Divine  head  and  the  Divine  heart,  and 
these  passages  come  from  the  heart.  They  are  repre- 
sentatives of  the  heart  class  generally.  But  some- 
how there  is  a  general  feeling  of  consent  throughout 
Christendom,  that  the  centre  and  saving  significance 
of  the  gospel  is  heart  power  rather  than  head  power. 
It  is  love  rather  than  law  —  life  as  distinct  from  light. 
Indeed,  John  says  the  light  is  life  shining.  It  is  a 
matter  of  general  agreement,  moreover,  without  qual- 
ification, throughout  Christendom,  that  Christ  died. 
All  who  believe  that  He  lived,  believe  that  He  died. 
There  is  no  diversity  of  opinion  on  this.  Again,  it 
is  an  universal  consent  and  testimony  that  Christ 
died  for  us  —  in  some  sense,  that  He  died  for  men. 
Again,  also,  it  is  the  universal  belief,  standing  in 
general  testimony,  that  in  some  sense  Christ  died  to 
express  love.  As  in  the  text,  "  Hereby  perceive  we 
the  love  oi  God,  because  Christ  laid  down  his  life  for 
us."  That  is  what  he  did  it  for,  to  express  God's 
love.  So  that,  generally,  love  is  considered  the  cen- 
tral and  essential  substance  of  the  gospel. 

And  yet  we  all  know  that  the  New  Testament 
abounds  in  statements  from  which  men  have  inferred 
that  the  death  of  Christ  expressed  not  the  love  of 
God,  but  the  wrath  of  God  ;  passages  from  which 
they  infer  that  the  death  of  Christ  meant  God's  penal 
anger;  that  it  means  punishment ;  that  it  means  pen- 
alty—  the  high  exactions  of  justice  as  distinct  from 
the  free  gift  of  grace  and  love. 

Now  this  view  of  Christianity  is  called,  by  way  of 
20 


230  DEBT?—  OR  GIFTf 

distinction,  the  "satisfaction"  view.  It  is  expressed 
thus:  u Divine  justice  receives  satisfaction  for  the  sins 
of  men  by  the  substituted  penal  sufferings  of  the  Son  of 
God."  This  is  sometimes  called  also  the  commercial 
view  of  salvation,  or  of  Christ's  work,  as  distinguished 
from  the  spiritual  and  gracious  view.  Hence  certain 
terms  rife  in  the  handling  of  this  satisfaction  or  com- 
mercial view.  For  instance,  the  conception  is  that 
owe  a  vast  debt  to  God,  and  Christ  comes  and 
offers  Himself  as  payment  of  the  debt  —  the  word 
debt  being  a  commercial  term. 

Again,  salvation,  or  the  benefits  of  the  Gospel  are 
conceived  to  be  a  purcJiase  from  somebody  —  from 
some  power  possessing  the  desired  boon;  and  Christ, 
in  dying,  becomes  the  price  of  that  purchase.  Thus, 
also,  under  the  same  view,  we  come  upon  the  word 
ransom,  which  is  in  the  Bible;  the  idea  of  which 
being  a  redemption  back  out  of  captivity,  of  one  who 
has  been  captured  by  a  hostile  power.  Christ  paid 
the  ransom  —  paid  it  by  his  agony.  Other  com- 
mercial terms  come  into  use,  as  when  men  say,  the 
suffering  of  Christ  liquidated  the  claims  of  the  law ; 
Christ  was  substituted  for  our  indebtedness — com- 
mercial terms.  Again,  he  took  upon  himself  our 
liabilities,  and  God  imputed  them  to  Him  —  words 
indicative  of  a  commercial  transaction.  God  ac- 
cepted him  as  our  surety ;  as  if  we  stood  in  account 
with  God,  and  being  insolvent,  utterly  bankrupt, 
Christ  steps  in,  bringing  so  much  agony-money  to 
pay  the  deficit  on  the  balance-sheet,  and  thus  square 
the  account  with  God.     Christ  constitutes  a  grand 


CALVINISTIC  VIEW  OF  CHRISTIANITY.        23 1 

credit  entry  in  the  profit  and  loss  account,  that  makes 
us  good  with  the  Divine  government.  God  is  satisfied. 
Christ  is  his  legal  quit  claim.  These  are  the  satis- 
faction and  commercial  views  of  salvation,  as  indi- 
cated by  the  terms  selected  for  handling  it. 

Or,  should  the  matter  be  contemplated  under  a 
simply  judicial  aspect,  we  find  coming  into  use 
another  set  of  terms  indicating  a  criminal  status  of 
Christ,  and  the  action  of  penal  law.  For  instance, 
Christ  is  conceived  of  as  a  victim  demanded  by  out- 
raged justice.  Christ  is  conceived  of  as  a  bloody  sac- 
rifice to  propitiate  God  and  win  back  his  lost  favor. 
God  is  thought  of  as  punishing  Christ  for  our  sins  ; 
or,  is  viewed  as  putting  the  stripes  that  belonged  to  ?/s 
on  to  Christ.  Christ  is  conceived  of  as  bearine  the 
penalty  of  our  transgression.  And  this  is  the  way 
He  satisfies  the  claims  God  holds  against  us.  The 
laws  and  status  of  the  Divine  government  in  relation 
to  man,  become  changed  by  Christ.  Christ  reconciles 
God;  satisfies  Him  ;  enables  Him  thus  to  go  forward 
in  the  work  of  salvation. 

This,  you  know,  is  what  is  called  the  Calvinistic 
view  of  Christianity.  Not  that  Calvin  originated  it 
three  hundred  years  ago ;  not  that  these  ideas  were 
never  in  the  minds  of  men  before  the  days  of  the 
great  Reformer;  but  that  master-mind  gathered  up 
the  elements  of  the  grand  system  and  codified  them, 
being  of  legal  bent  and  training  himself.  Having 
not  only  an  acute,  but  vigorously  logical  mind,  he 
compiled  and  compacted  this  iron  system,  called  the 
satisfaction  system,  or  the  commercial  system,  or  the 


232  DEBT?— OR  GIFTt 

il  system  ;  so  that  it  not  only  hears  his  name,  but 
it  has  held  the  f.iith  of  mankind  greatly  from  that 
time  to  this.  I  can  give  it  to  you  in  a  word.  Calvin, 
in  his  Institutes,  says : 

"  Had  Christ  been  murdered  by  robbers,  his  death 
would  have  been  no  satisfaction  to  God  ;  but  when 
he  was  regarded  as  a  criminal  it  was  incumbent  on 
him  to  feel  the  severity  of  divine  revenge,  in  order 
that  he  might  both  ward  off  and  satisfy  a  righteous 
sentence  ;  wherefore  we  wonder  not  that  he  is  said  to 
have  descended  into  hell,  since  he  endured  that 
death  which  is  inflicted  by  an  angry  God  on  the 
wicked." 

This,  you  perceive,  is  exactly  and  logically  the 
doctrine  of  substituted  penalty,  never  so  forcibly  put 
as  by  this  great  intellect  of  Calvin.  Our  sensibilities 
start  back,  I  know,  in  this  day,  from  such  views  of 
God  and  his  gospel ;  and  nine  out  of  ten  would 
probably  disown  all  faith  in  them.  And  yet,  touch 
one  stone  in  the  arch  and  the  structure  comes  down. 
Break  one  link  in  the  chain  and  the  rest  is  no  better 
than  a  rope  of  sand. 

If  we  take  the  standpoint  of  the  Westminster 
divines,  the  severity  of  their  views  on  the  doctrine 
of  God  and  Christ,  is  quite  as  vigorous  as  anything 
we  find  in  the  Genevan  Master.  They  could  say  : 
"  The  Father  chose  the  objects  of  mercy ;  the  Son 
purchased  redemption  for  them.  By  the  decree  of 
God  for  the  manifestation  of  his  own  glory,  some 
are  predestined  to  everlasting  life,  and  others  preor- 
dained to  everlasting   death.     God  was  pleased  to 


A  DEBT  PAID  IS  NOT  FORGIVEN.  23  J 

pass  them  by,  ana!  ordain  them  to  wrath  for  their  sin, 
to  the  praise  of  his  glorious  justice." 

Now,  I  do  not  cite  these  different  systems  for  the 
sake  of  criticising  them.  I  bring  them  forward  to 
show  the  difference  between  the  commercial  view 
and  the  spiritual  view  ;  between  the  debt  view  and 
the  grace  view ;  between  the  law  view  and  the  love 
view ;  between  the  arithmetical  view  and  the  ethical 
view  of  the  gospel.  The  difference  comes  upon  our 
thought  by  such  questions  as  :  "  Does  God  demand 
pay  for  our  indebtedness  as  if  He  came  forth  as  any 
other  collector,  taking  us  by  the  throat,  as  the  par- 
able has  it,  saying,  pay  me  that  thou  owest?  and 
does  Christ  step  in  and  pay  the  debt  and  let  us  off?" 
or,  "  Does  God  come  forth  the  forgiver  of  our  debts, 
sending  Christ  into  the  heart  to  tell  how  it  is  done  ?  " 
He  cannot  do  both  — collect  the  debt  and  forgive  it 
too.  Is  Christ  punished  instead  of  ourselves  ?  Or 
does  Christ  come  into  the  world  God's  offer  of  pardon 
on  our  repentance  and  forsaking  of  sin  ?  For  he 
cannot  pardon  and  punish  too.  No  matter  whether 
God  deals  with  you  or  your  substitute.  If  the  debt 
is  paid,  or  the  sin  punished  in  any  way,  pardon  and 
forgiveness  as  grace,  a  free  gift,  is  simply  absurd. 
The  only  question  is,  which  is  the  gospel,  grace  or 
debt?  punishment  or  forgiveness?  pardon  as  a 
gratuity,  or  pardon  purchased  and  paid  for? 

The  mighty  matter  turns  on  the  interpretation  of 
words,  and  the  genuine  conception  of  the  work  of 
Christ.     Did  Christ  come  to  reconcile  God  to  man, 

or  man  to  God  ?     Do  we  conceive  his  design  to  be 
20  * 


234  BTt—OR  GIFTf 

to  change  the  status  of  the  Divine  government 
towards  man,  or  to  change  the  status  of  man's  char- 
acter t<>\\ aids  the  Divine  government?  Does  Chri.-t 
by  his  life  and  death  contribute  any  competence  to 
the  Divine  government  not  originally  inhering  in  it? 
or  is  lie  in  the  world  to  make  known  and  to  execute 
the  unoriginated  and  eternal  competence  of  that 
government? 

Honest  men  have  held  both  views;  good  men  have 
held  both,  and  they  hold  both  to-day.  There  is,  I 
add,  truth  in  both  schemes;  for  you  cannot  find  a 
scheme  of  faith  in  history  that  has  not  had  some 
power  of  truth  in  it;  and  it  is  the  truth  that  holds  men. 

Doubtless  there  is  a  high  point  of  view  which  the 
human  mind  and  heart  will  reach  by  and  by,  from 
which  this  dual  aspect  of  Christianity  may  be  viewed, 
and  seen  to  be  in  harmonious  adjustment  and  one- 
ness in  itself.  When  we  leave  human  theories;  when 
we  leave  artificial  schemes  of  thought ;  drop  the  syl- 
logism of  Aristotle  and  walk  in  the  inspiration  of 
John;  then  we  shall  begin  to  feel  even  within  us  the 
sympathetic  affinity  of  truth  in  all  its  diversities  and 
divorcements,  and  we  shall  walk  not  only  in  the 
grace  of  Justice  but  in  the  justice  of  Grace. 

When  men  pass  by  the  human  media,  discolored 
by  time,  by  circumstances,  by  individuality,  and  come 
directly  to  the  text  itself — nay,  rather,  when  the 
providence  of  God  shall  raise  up  a  fresh  generation 
of  thinkers  that  never  knew  the  constraining  bias  of 
rhetoric,  art,  conventionalism  and  speculation,  com- 
ing directly  to  the  fresh  words  of  Christ,  then  we 


GOD'S  JUSTICE  JOINED  TO   LOVE.  235 

shall  begin,  or  the  world  will  begin,  to  grasp  the 
oneness,  and  feel  the  vital  force  of  the  harmony  and 
ingenerating  and  regenerating  power  of  truth  and 
life,  —  the  eternal  embrace  of  justice  and  love.  Even 
now  love  is  as  exact  as  justice  is  gracious.  There  is 
not  an  attribute  of  God  that  may  not  be  enunciated 
by  the  lip  of  any  other  attribute.  There  is  no  sepa- 
rate interest;  there  is  a  mighty  harmony  eternally 
there.  Old  Mercy  herself  is  just,  and  Justice  is  mer- 
ciful. And  this  breaking  things  asunder  which  God 
has  joined  together,  is  direful  misfortune  in  the 
thinking  and  faith  of  the  world.  Law  itself  is  gra- 
cious, and  grace  is  equally  lawful;  righteousness  and 
truth  met  eternally  ago  ;  pardon  and  penalty  melt 
into  one  in  the  Father's  heart. 

Let  us  then,  this  morning  at  any  rate,  seek  the 
higher  point;  let  us  endeavor  to  emancipate  ourselves 
from  the  thrall  of  the  lower  love.  Let  us  not  linger 
among  the  conflicts  and  the  jars  of  mere  human 
thinking,  but  turn  from  human  doubt  to  belief  in 
God.  Do  it  by  your  heart;  do  it  by  your  spirit;  do 
it  by  your  faith,  your  whole  soul.  It  is  your  right ; 
it  is  your  privilege,  especially,  to  hold  no  view  that 
shall  chill  the  debt  of  gratitude  in  the  soul,  from  the 
fact  that  your  obligations  seem  to  have  been  cancelled 
by  another.  Drop  not  religion  down  to  the  level  of 
a  mercenary  transaction — to  a  mere  commercial 
adjustment.  Hold  yourself  an  infinite  debtor,  but  to 
love  and  forgiveness  without  price.  Chime  in  with 
the  old  angel-song,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men  ; "  God  so  loved  the 


236  DEBTt-   OR  CUT? 

world  from  eternity  of  his  own  motion  and  nature 

that    He  sent  Christ  to  make  known   his  love  and 

apply  it.     He  came  even  to  the  cross,  to  the  grave, 

.and  out  of  the  grave,  to  the  manifestation  of  that  love. 

To-day,  then,  we  stand  on  these  heart  texts ;  for 
the  communion  day  is  a  heart-day.  We  perceive  the 
love  of  God  now,  in  that  Christ  laid  down  his  life  for 
us.  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man 
lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends."  But  more  was  done 
than  this,  in  the  fact  that  God  commended  his  own 
love  toward  us,  in  that  while  we  were  not  friends  but 
sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.  All  coming  out  of  the 
original  germ,  that  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He 
gave  his  Son,  that  whosoever  should  believe  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  live  evermore. 

Here  we  are  safe;  here  we  can  be  grateful;  here 
we  melt  into  penitence;  here  we  bloom  in  hope. 
We  can  take  our  stand  now  with  ancient  Paul  him- 
self, who  said  :  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ ;  never- 
theless I  live  ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me. 
And  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by 
the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loveth  me  and  gave 
1  limself  for  me." 

Let  us  stand  there  to-day,  not  chilled  and  shiver- 
ing as  culprits  fearing  sentence,  but  exultant  and 
jubilant  under  the  grand  grace  proclamation  of  life. 
The  prison-doors  are  open,  the  culprit  chains  are 
shattered.  The  Father  has  spoken.  He  has  bread 
for  the  hungry,  and  healing  for  the  sick,  and  out- 
stretched arms  and  insignia  of  honor  for  every  re- 
turning prodigal. 


XVI. 
DRA  WING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD. 

Draw  nigh  unto  God  and  He  will  draw 
nigh  unto  yon.  —  James  iv.  8. 

THIS   is   a   movement,  not  of  antecedence   and 
consequence,  but  of  simultaneousness.     When 
two  are  together,  one  is  as  the  other. 

The  text  therefore  enunciates  a  great  principle  in 
religion.  The  principle  is :  if  you  want  a  blessing 
from  God,  go  to  God  for  it ;  use  the  rational  means 
therefor;  fulfill  the  conditions  of  receiving  it.  If  you 
want  anything  from  the  market,  go  to  the  market  for 
it  and  it  is  yours.  Do  you  wish  education  ?  go  to 
education  for  the  gift,  and  education  is  with  you. 
Are  you  in  frailty,  seeking  health,  sighing  for  her 
rich  fountains  ?  approach  them  and  her  benedictions 
are  yours.  Are  you  an  aspirant  for  honor?  rise  to 
honor  and  honor  is  yours.  Do  you  hunger  and 
thirst  for  purity?  you  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  be 
pure,  and  purity  is  with  you  —  not  otherwise.  No 
matter  how  much  faith  you  have  in  purity  ;  no  matter 
how  abundant  and  inspired  your  hymns  of  praise  to 
purity ;  if  you  desire  her,  be  pure  and  she  is  yours. 
Draw  nigh  unto  anything,  and  that  to  which  you 
draw  nigh,  draws  nigh  to  you ;  that  which  inter- 
spaces you  vanishes,  and  the  proximity  ensues  in  the 
premises. 

237 


238  drawing  men  unto  <;od. 

There  is  a  great  deal  said  about  drawing  nigh  unto 
God;  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  living  near  to  God; 
so  much  that  we  are  quite  familiar  with  it.  I  often 
think  we  have  lost  the  crisp,  contractile  force  of  the 
idea,  allowing  it  to  drop  into  mere  cant. 

Let  us  see  then,  if  we  can,  what  is  really  meant 
by  drawing  nigh  unto  God. 

Not  spatially  is  it  to  be  done  ;  for  the  distance  be- 
tween God  and  any  soul  is  not  a  matter  of  space  at 
all ;  it  is  not  a  matter  of  interstellar  or  planetary 
ranges.  God  is  just  as  near  to  you  on  the  Pacific  as 
on  the  Atlantic  coast;  just  as  near  on  the  further 
continent  as  here;  just  as  near,  notwithstanding 
leagues  and  leagues  may  interspace  point  and  point, 
or  being  and  being.  Take  the  wings  of  the  morning 
and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  and 
God  is  there  as  much  as  when  and  where  you  started. 
Make  your  bed  in  hell  —  He  is  there.  The  separa- 
tion is  not,  in  any  sense,  a  matter  of  space  or  time. 

Neither  is  it  a  matter  of  mere  existence,  or  a  mcta- 
pliysical  distance;  for  in  Him  perpetually  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being.  God  touches  all 
being  at  all  times,  and  under  all  possible  conditions. 
Therefore  this  is  not  the  difference. 

Neither  is  it  that  of  officiality.  God  is  no  more 
remote  from  one  soul  than  from  another  as  to  his 
Fatherhood.  He  is  the  Father  of  all  men.  He  is 
the  judge  of  all  alike.  He  is  the  universal  lawgiver. 
He  is  the  governor  over  all;  the  bountiful  provider 
for  all.  He  sendeth  rain  upon  the  just  and  the  un- 
just ;  and  He  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  This  is  not 
the  distance  and  the  difference. 


WHAT  IS  REMOTENESS  FROM  GOD.  2$$ 

But  this  it  is,  viz. :  Distance  and  difference  of  char- 
acter;  a  disparity,  not  of  being,  but  of  quality  of 
being. 

I  think  you  will  sometimes  be  tired  of  hearing  this 
word  character  so  often  in  connection  with  religion. 
It  is  a  pulpit  innovation,  perhaps ;  and  yet  it  is  all 
there  is  of  religion.  Eliminate  this,  or  leave  it  out 
in  any  way,  and  the  rest  is  a  mere  spasm  or  phantom 
of  cant.  The  difference  that  needs  to  be  overcome 
in  your  approaches  to  God,  is  the  difference  between 
his  character  and  yours,  and  nothing  else.  We  draw 
near  to  Him  when  we  approximate  his  likeness  in 
the  quality  of  our  virtue,  of  our  nature  —  in  a  word, 
of  our  character. 

But,  ah  !  what  is  character  ?  says  some  one  ;  what 
is  it  ?  how  is  it  made  ?  of  what  does  it  consist  ? 

We  are  told  that  we  are  created  in  the  image  of 
God ;  which  means  that  we  have  certain  capacities, 
certain  powers,  faculties,  elemental  constituencies  of 
our  nature,  the  immortal  humanity  deposited  within 
us,  by  virtue  of  which  we  are  capable  of  becoming 
like  God.  In  this  sense  we  bear  his  image.  Image 
is  prophetic;  image  is  an  outline  possibility;  a  com- 
petency. 

In  this  respect  we  have  three  main  elements  :  our 
intelligent  nature,  our  moral  nature,  our  spiritual 
nature.  Our  intelligent  nature  relates  us  to  God 
under  capacities  of  receiving  truth.  It  is  the  truth- 
acquiring  possibility  within  us.  Our  moral  nature 
enables  us  to  be  right  instead  of  wrong,  or  wrong 
instead  of  right,  as  we  determine.     It  enables  us  to 


240  DRAWING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD. 

be  righteous.  We  arc  thus  capable  of  repeating  the 
virtue  in  God.  Our  spiritual  nature  or  capacity  is 
that  by  which  we  can  be  receptive  of  the  Divine,  and 
become  subjects  of  the  life  and  inspiration  of  God. 
God  may  glow  in  the  torpor  of  our  nature  through 
an  elemental  relation  to  Him,  deeper  than  thought, 
deeper  than  virtue,  through  that  radical  endowment 
of  being  whose  root  drinks  life  directly  from  Him. 

Now  the  development  of  this  threefold  compe- 
tence of  our  nature,  the  balancing  of  all  the  powers 
therein,  the  putting  to  right  use  of  everything  that 
makes  us,  is  the  function  and  the  fact  of  character. 
No  matter  how  your  associations  may  bias  you  ;  no 
matter  how  like  a  sweet  morsel  you  may  roll  some- 
thing else  under  the  tongue  of  your  memory  or  hope; 
your  religion  is  worth  what  you  are  worth  in  God's 
estimate  as  to  your  character;  nothing  more. 

So  that  this  drawing  nigh  to  God,  you  perceive,  is 
no  artificial  matter;  it  is  no  mechanical  contrivance, 
no  dead  paint  or  formulated  imitation;  no  panto- 
mime or  simulacrum  whatever.  It  is  a  moral  sig- 
nificance involving  virtue,  right,  purity  and  all  the 
excellences  and  graces  of  human  character.  It  in- 
volves, as  we  have  already  seen,  not  only  the  moral 
element,  but  the  spiritual  element ;  the  exercise  of 
the  deep,  ultimate  capacity  in  human  nature  for 
receiving  God,  and  all  that  is  sweet  and  divine  and 
ecstatic  within  Him. 

To  draw  near  to  God  artificially,  is  very  much  like 
drawing  near  to  these  beautiful  flowers  by  way  of 
silk  and  satin  and  paint.     Jt  can  be  done;  and  the 


THE  .HUMAN  BLOSSOM  FERTILIZED. 


24I 


unpracticed  eye  shall  be  cheated  We  can  imitate, 
but  it  will  not  be  the  thing  of  love  and  beauty  and 
truth.  There  must  be  more  than  imitations.  So  the 
bloom  that  comes  from  us  must  be  an  efflorescence 
from  the  living  root  that  God  planted  in  our  nature. 
I  know  this  will  be  nothing  but  a  human  blossom  in 
itself;  therefore  I  add,  that  every  soul  which  draws 
nigh  to  God  in  a  way  to  acquire  the  Divine  charac- 
ter, must  have  this  human  blossom  fertilized  by  the 
counter-bloom  of  the  Divine  nature  itself.  The  hu- 
man is  the  candle,  but  it  must  be  lighted  by  the  Di- 
vine spark.  The  human,  however  pure,  is  nothing 
more  than  the  measure  of  meal ;  it  must  be  pervaded 
by  the  Divine  leaven.  The  human,  however  perfect 
in  its  stage,  is  still  raw  and  unripe  until  perfected  by 
the  clime  far  away.  This  is  the  way  character  comes  ; 
this  is  the  manner  of  it  and  the  substance  of  it. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  no  more  external  in- 
stitute, ritual,  ordinance,  can  ever  bring  a  spiritual, 
ethical  being  to  the  spiritual,  ethical  standard  of 
another  being ;  no  ecclesiastical  status  can  put  a 
soul  into  proximity  to  God ;  no  dogmatic  furnish- 
ings, however  full,  however  fiery,  however  ancient, 
mossy  or  recent,  have  anything  to  do  with  this.  It 
is  a  matter  personal,  entirely ;  it  is  a  matter  spiritual, 
essentially;  it  is  a  matter  of  character,  quality  of 
soul,  intensity  of  virtue,  and  only  this.  It  means 
sweetness  and  purity  of  heart,  of  spirit,  of  temper ; 
it  means  Christliness  of  soul;  it  means  Godliness  of 
character  ;  and  that  is  all  it  means. 

Now  for   exactly  this   you   must  see  that   Jesus 

21  Q 


242  DRAWING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD. 

Christ  came  into  the  world  bringing  his  grand  Gos- 
pel. Christ  and  the  power  of  God  in  his  teachings, 
are  here  to  draw  men  unto  Him.  They  are  to  draw 
men  up,  not  to  drag  God  down.  Christ  and  his 
Gospel  are  the  long  arm  of  the  Almighty  reached 
out  to  the  world.  They  brought  the  Father  within 
feasible,  visible  reach  of  the  child.  Christ  told  the 
world  the  way  to  God  ;  furnished  the  world  the  truth 
towards  God  and  the  life  of  God.  He  told  men  how 
to  go  to  Him,  and  what  to  do,  to  be,  to  suffer  and 
enjoy,  as  they  should  rise  in  character  to  the  Divine 
standard.  Christ  and  his  teachings  were  the  spark 
to  light  the  candle;  they  were  the  pollen  scattered 
from  the  heavenly  blossom  upon  the  human  bloom 
of  our  human  nature;  they  were  the  leaven  in  this 
measure  of  meal,  making  bread  for  angels.  And  all 
this  was  and  is  a  provision  for  every  solitary  soul  of 
the  world ;  light  for  every  man,  bread  for  every  child 
of  the  race ;  hope  for  all  who  will  yield  the  due 
measure  of  confidence  and  trust  towards  God.  Not 
for  mankind  only  —  all  peoples  and  climes  and  kin- 
dreds of  this  world  —  but  for  other  worlds,  too,  is 
this  gift  of  Christ  and  his  teachings.  Included 
therein  is  an  organic  function  by  which  the  fortunes 
of  two  orders  of  existence  are  woven  together.  We 
are  in  the  planting  hour;  we  are  to  be  in  the  reap- 
ing hour  by  and  by.  Such  organic  unity  is  stipu- 
lated and  vouched  for  by  Christ  and  his  Gospel,  sent 
into  the  world  by  God  to  tell  us  of  this  great  and 
glorious  thing. 

Now,  exactly  here  are  the  meaning  and  worth  of 


TRUE  MEANING  OF  SALVATION.  243 

all  religion  ;  here  is  the  meaning  and  the  reality  of 
salvation.  To  be  saved  is  to  become  like  Christ  — 
like  God  —  not  in  your  talk,  not  in  your  ceremony, 
not  in  your  imitation,  not  in  your  symbols,  but  in 
your  virtues,  in  your  character ;  and  just  in  the  de- 
gree that  you  come  near  to  the  high  standard,  are 
you  saved.  As  you  come  short  you  lack  salvation. 
Some  are  scarcely  saved  —  saved  as  by  fire.  Some 
will  be  but  as  a  glimmering,  twinkling  speck,  while 
others  will  be  like  radiant  stars ;  and  others  still, 
according  to  the  Book,  like  burning  suns  in  the 
canopy  of  glory.  Just  in  the  ratio  under  which  we 
stand  in  our  character  to  the  Divine  character,  will 
be  our  status  in  the  world  of  life. 

What  a  glorious  conception  this  is  !  What  a  grand 
scheme  of  being  to  contemplate  !  How  the  mere 
thought  of  it  seems  to  throb  down  its  inspiration  into 
brain  and  all  nature  !  The  glory  thereof  becomes  an 
anticipative  glow  and  charm  in  the  human  heart. 
What  waking  under  the  inspiring  touch  of  the  glo- 
rious conception  that  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being  under  such  grand  economy  as  this  !  Be- 
ginning to  exist  as  an  image,  and  environed  by  Di- 
vine and  immortal  helpers,  our  growth  and  develop- 
ment reach  that  final,  terminal  stage,  in  which  we  shall 
stand  completed,  answering  face  to  face  unto  God. 

There  have  ever  been  tzvo  opinions  in  the  world 
respecting  this  matter  of  religion  and  salvation.  One 
has  been,  that  man  should  come  to  God ;  the  other 
has  been,  that  God  should  come  to  man.  Now  I 
think  that  we  may  steer  clear  of  difficulty  by  the 


244  DRAWING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD. 

light  of  our  subject.  God  has  already  come  to  man 
in  Jesus  Christ;  in  his  Gospel  ;  in  the  revelations  of 
all  his  providence  ;  in  the  revelations  of  all  his  works. 
He  has  already  come,  and  is  here,  in  the  possibilities 
and  in  the  provisions  of  salvation.  Man  must  come 
to  God  in  the  actualities  of  these  possibilities  —  in 
the  realization  of  these  provisions.  He  is  to  make- 
concrete  what  before  was  only  in  the  abstract,  lie- 
is  to  make  substantial  what  was  at  first  only  shadowy 
and  hypothetical.  God  has  come,  and  man  has  to 
come. 

Again  :  it  has  been  the  opinion  of  a  portion  of 
mankind,  that  God  was  to  do  everything  and  man 
nothing;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  opinion  has 
been,  that  man  is  to  do  everything  and  God  nothing. 
Now  the  light  of  our  subject  scatters  all  such  confu- 
sion. The  God  of  heaven  did  indeed  let  down  the 
golden  ladder  whose  foot  touched  to  the  uttermost 
the  depths  of  humanity,  and  then  the  call  was,  "  O 
man,  ascend  this  ladder  and  draw  nigh  unto  me;  for 
in  such  ascension  I  shall  be  nigh  unto  you."  We 
are  co-workers  with  God.  Those  notions  I  just 
referred  to  were  not  born  of  the  New  Testament ; 
they  were  born  among  the  musty  speculations  of 
cloisters ;  they  are  a  kind  of  hybrid  offspring  from 
the  wedlock  of  pagan  philosophy  and  the  sweet 
gospel  of  St.  John.  God  created  us  in  his  likeness, 
with  the  possibility  and  capacity  of  reaching  his  own 
Mil  (stance,  his  virtues  through  our  fidelity.  There 
was  his  work,  and  here  is  ours;  and  this  confusion 
vanishes.    Hence  that  grand  passage  in  Paul :  "  Work 


THE  MEANING  OF  A  TONEMENT.  24  5 

out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling." 
These  institutions,  these  positions,  these  motives  and 
grand  inspiring  labors  working  in  you,  in  all  your 
endeavors  to  do  God's  command,  namely,  to  come 
up  to  the  standard  of  His  character.  The  nearer  you 
work  to  this  standard,  the  nearer  you  will  be  to  Him  ; 
the  nearer  you  agree  with  God,  the  more  directly 
does  He  agree  with  you ;  and  when  you  come  to- 
gether, that  oneness  is  peace,  reconciliation,  atone- 
ment realized. 

I  want  you  to  think  of  that  word  atonement.  It 
is  not  a  sounding  syllable  ;  it  is  not  a  mere  passing 
word;  there  is  unspeakable  depth  of  meaning  in  it. 
It  means  the  bringing  of  the  soul  into  fellowship, 
harmony  and  union  with  God  ;  renewing  it  after  his 
own  divine  likeness ;  filling  it  with  his  own  wisdom 
and  unselfish  love ;  bringing  it  at  one  with  Him  in 
feeling,  desire  and  purpose. 

The  value  of  Christ  and  his  religion  is  exactly 
here  :  God's  power  to  bring  humanity,  as  to  its  charac- 
ter, up  to  the  standard  of  Divinity,  as  to  its  character. 
Christ  and  his  character  are  virtue-powers  to  make 
men  virtuous ;  they  are  holy  powers  to  make  us 
holy ;  they  are  Godly  powers  to  make  us  godly ; 
heavenly  powers  to  make  us  heavenly.  Not  substi- 
tutes —  not  mere  cards  of  presentation  —  they  mean 
ourselves,  or  Christ's  spirit  and  character  in  us. 

Just  in  proportion  as  we  approximate,  morally  and 
spiritually,  the  Divine  standard,  the  difference  between 
that  standard  and  ourselves  vanishes.  When  our 
souls  are  ripened  into  the  fullness  of  the  heavenly 

21  * 


246  DRAWING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD. 

fruition,  \vc  shall  be  fruits  of  immortality;  and  in  such 
coming  to  God,  He  will  have  come  to  us  in  oneness 
and  ripeness  and  sweetness  forever. 

Here  is  the  great  Reconciliation;  yes,  the  great 
Reconciler.  They  stand  as  the  pledge  that  whoso- 
ever worketh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  in  the 
nature  of  the  Lord,  shall  not  find  his  work  in  vain. 
They  come  down  here  as  the  ascending  path  of  man 
up  to  glory ;  and  we  walk  step  after  step,  step  after 
step,  as  we  add  virtue  to  virtue,  grace  to  grace. 

Mistake  not  times  and  places  —  not  this  mountain 
or  that  mountain,  not  this  church  or  that  church, 
not  one  denomination  or  another  denomination  —  for 
God.  Wherever  there  is  a  spiritual,  devout  heart  or 
character,  there  God  is  tented  and  there  heaven 
begins. 

The  time  for  all  this  is  life  —  the  long  life  we  may 
live  on  earth;  every  day,  not  one-seventh  of  the  days  ; 
not  special  places  and  times  and  seasons  alone,  but 
continuous  life;  the  deeds  of  men,  the  thoughts  of  men, 
the  motives  and  beliefs  of  men  in  their  current  birth 
and  flow.  Not  only  must  we  be  sometimes  drawing 
near  to  God,  but  always;  when  we  buy,  when  we  sell ; 
when  we  speak  of  each  other;  when  we  patrol  the 
streets  alone  or  in  company  ;  when  we  are  at  a  neigh- 
bor's house  ;  when  we  are  the  custodians  of  his  repu- 
tation or  his  character.  We  are  always  drawing  near 
to  God,  or  increasing  the  distance  between  ourselves 
and  Him.  Not  only  in  our  doctrine  ;  not  only  in  our 
creeds;  not  mainly  in  our  ecclesiastical  status;  not 
solely  in  our  professions;  but  essentially  in  ourselves 
do  we  draw  near  to  Him. 


HOW  MUCH  ARE   YOU  LIKE  GOD?  247 

Time  is  drawing  us  near  to  God.  The  golden 
hours  are  singing  of  Him.  We  are  approaching 
Him  ;  we  are  nearing  the  tribunal  where  we  shall 
see  Him  in  his  character.  Then  in  the  light  of  it  we 
shall  see  truly  our  own.  The  question  I  ask  now  is, 
Will  it  be  a  burning  contrast,  or  a  sweet  resem- 
blance? Will  it  be  a  jarring  discord,  or  the  chime 
which  makes  the  key  of  eternity's  song?  We  are 
nearing  God  in  this  sense  rapidly.  He  will  not  ask 
Us  about  human  standards.  There  will  be  no  ques- 
tion put  as  to  whether  you  conform  to  this  standard 
ot  that  or  the  other,  remotely  laid  down  or  recently. 
Not  a  word  will  be  said  about  such  things.  Here  is 
the  standard,  divine,  immortal ;  God  himself,  only 
God.  "  How  square  you  unto  that,  O  soul  ?  How 
much  are  you  like  Me?" 

"  O  Lord,  have  we  not  taught  in  thy  name,  sung 
in  thy  name,  fought  in  thy  name  ?  have  we  not 
burned  heretics  in  thy  name  ?  have  we  not  turned 
the  world  upside  down  in  thy  name?"  "I  never 
knew  you,"  may  possibly  be  the  only  response ; 
"  how  much  are  you  like  Me  ?" 

The  fruits  of  the  spirit  are  sweetness,  gentleness, 
love,  purity,  power,  grandeur  and  glory  of  soul, 
fragrance  of  saintliness  that  shall  make  angels  ask 
for  the  regaling  of  your  presence,  if  you  are  thus 
fruitful. 

There  is  a  beautiful  world  over  there  —  beautiful 
as  God,  populated  greatly  already.  Thousands  of 
harps  are  struck  by  fingers  :/e  have  pressed.  They 
are   triumphant ;  they  bear  the  likeness.     What,  O 


248  DRAWING  NIGH  UNTO  GOD. 

soul,  is  your  great  interest  as  you  draw  nigh  to  that 
world  ?  Will  they  greet  you  gladly  ?  Will  old  sun- 
dered loves  strike  hands  of  recognition  again,  like- 
music  melting  into  music  ?  That  is  all  a  matter  of 
fitness;  all  a  matter  of  virtue,  sweetness,  charm  —  of 
how  much  you  are  worth  in  God's  sight,  as  related 
to  their  worth  in  his  sight. 

We  are  coming  not  only  to  God,  nearing  not  only 
the  spiritual  world,  but  we  are  nearing  our  final  self, 
our  second  self,  the  terminal  self.  We  are  nearing  the 
self  of  harvest,  of  which  the  present  hour  is  the  seed- 
planting.  Shall  we  be  glad  to  see  ourselves  ?  Shall 
we  be  a  benediction  upon  our  own  heads  for  ever 
and  ever?  Will  there  be  peace  in  here  —  at  heart? 
will  there  be  power  here,  and  shall  I  be  easy-man- 
nered in  heavenly  presences?  Will  my  mien  and 
spiritual  bearing  be  that  of  homelike  grace  in  the 
society  of  beauty  and  blessedness  ? 

These  are  the  questions  to  ask  now.  If  we  are 
drawing  near  to  the  significance  of  things  in  this 
sense,  then  we  shall  be  saved.  We  need  have  no 
other  thought,  in  faith,  in  prayer,  in  deed,  in  memory 
or  hope,  but  this  identity  of  worth  with  God  —  this 
at-oneness  or  union  of  our  souls  with  Him.  Draw 
near  to  Him,  then,  in  truth,  in  purity,  in  beauty,  in 
blessedness;  accord  with  Him  in  his  estimate  of  the 
nobility  of  true  humanity;  glow  with  Him  in  the 
fervor  of  an  immortal  and  unselfish  love;  and  this 
shall  be  spiritual  and  eternal  nearness. 

So  come  back  to  the  mansions,  the  household  of 
heaven  ;  so  dwells  for  ever  the  Father  with  the  chil- 
dren. 


XVII. 

THE  LAMB  HOOD  OF  GOD— AND  HOW  IT  TAKES 

AWAY  SIN. 

Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world.  —  John  i.  29. 

THE  word  lamb  is  a  prominent  Bible  word  ;  and 
as  we  find  it  in  connection  with  altar  usage, 
together  with  the  tropical  sense  which  it  bears  in  the 
imagery  that  sets  forth  the  Divine  nature,  it  is  so 
familiar  and  well  understood  that  it  is  not  needful  to 
tarry  for  formal  elucidation.  All  that  is  tender  and 
gentle  is  implied ;  all  that  is  pure,  patient  and  long- 
suffering  in  God  is  intended.  It  means  God's  self- 
sacrifice  ;  his  suffering  sensibility  in  view  of  sin  ;  his 
distress  at  our  self-inflicted  injuries  ;  his  grief  and 
burden  of  love  over  our  unfilial  dereliction,  and  his 
unrequited  love.  In  a  word,  it  signifies  God's  heart 
pierced  by  our  transgressions,  and  bearing  the  load 
of  our  sins  and  our  guilt.  His  soul  -  sympathy 
weighed  down  for  us  ;  wounded,  weeping,  sorrowing 
love  ;  the  great  self-compensating  balance  of  his  own 
nature,  whereby  sorrowing  paternity  begets  a  tribute 
to  Deity  itself,  and  the  capability  of  self-sacrifice  in 
the  interests  of  redemption  from  sin  and  disaster, 
stands  as  innate  satisfaction  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  Such  is  the  LambJiood  of  the  Divine 
nature. 

249 


250  THE  LAMBHOOD  OF  COD,  El 

The  Lamb  of  the  Old  Testament  is  typical,  sym- 
bolical, ceremonial,  lustral  ;  the  Lamb  of  the  New 
lament  is  personal,  spiritual,  real;  the  Lamb  of 
God  is  living,  loving,  divine,  eternal. 

There  is  the  sign  ;  there  is  the  word ;  and  there  is 
the  idea.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  blossomed  ;  in 
the  New  it  fruited  ;  but  the  root  or  seed  was  in  God, 
and  was  God.  Sublimely  may  it  be  said  :  "  In  the 
beginning  was  this  Lambhood,  and  the  Lambhood 
was  with  God,  and  the  same  was  God." 

Men  are  accustomed  to  say,  the  Fatlierliood  is  God; 
the  Cliristhood  is  God  ;  the  Lambhood  is  God ;  the 
Spirithood  is  God,  putting  predicate  for  subject. 
Say,  better,  the  Fatherhood  is  of  God  ;  the  Christ- 
hood  is  of  God;  the  Lambhood  is  of  God  ;  the  Spirit- 
hood  is  <?/God  —  using,  as  the  grammarians  say,  the 
subjective  genitive  instead  of  the  objective. 

Fatherhood,  Christhood,  Spirithood,  do  not  locate 
their  meaning  outside  of  God,  objective  to  Him  ;  but 
inside,  carrying  only  a  subjective  significance.  They 
interpret  God ;  tell  what  He  is,  not  what  something 
else  is.  They  are  of  Him  ;  reveal  Him  ;  are  Him- 
self speaking,  working,  creating,  re-creating.  There 
is  that  true  of  God  which  gives  divine  fitness  to  such 
diction.     He  thus  becomes  his  own  dictionary. 

Taking  this  view  of  the  matter,  the  way  is  clear 
and  direct  to  certain  results.  If  God  is  the  Father- 
hood of  the  world,  then  this  Fatherhood  is  divine 
and  eternal ;  if  He  is  the  Christhood,  then  the  Christ- 
hood  must  be  divine  and  eternal ;  so  if  He  is  the 
Lambhood,    the    Lambhood-  must    be    divine    and 


THE  PERSONAL  ONENESS  OF  GOD.  25  I 

eternal,  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  The 
same  is  true  of  all  that  may  be  justly  predicated  of 
the  divine  and  eternal  Godhood.  Thus  the  Divine 
Nature  stands  in  unbroken  coherence  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world;  in  organic  oneness  from  first  to 
last,  whether  contemplated  in  relation  to  Creation, 
Providence,  or  Redemption.  God  is  One ;  his  gov- 
ernment one.  His  mighty  scheme  of  wisdom,  love 
and  power  is  but  Himself  projected;  an  organic 
whole  of  vital  functions,  holding  sovereign  unity  in 
correlate  diversity  and  subordinate  manifoldness  as 
essential  to  the  absolute  unity.  In  Him  do  all  things 
consist. 

The  Lambhood  of  God  is  the  heart  of  God  ;  that 
cherished  inmost  that  lies  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
innocent,  tender,  gentle,  patient,  yearning,  long-suffer- 
ing, self-sacrificing,  bleeding,  interceding.  It  is  this 
sorrow-pierced,  sin-bearing,  heart-aching  stress  of 
Paternal  passion,  whose  innate  necessities  are  fitly 
pointed  to  in  the  symbol,  naked  of  euphemism,  "  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 

We  know,  then,  where  to  look  for  our  Christ,  the 
Lamb,  the  Gospel  and  salvation.  They  are  of  God, 
in  God,  yea,  are  God  himself.  To  seek  them  else- 
where is  to  be  tf-theistic  in  our  religion. 

We  are  thus  able  to  be  sure  of  our  standing  firmly 
and  clearly  on  Monotheism.  We  have  not  gods  many, 
but  one  God,  besides  whom  there  is  none  other. 
This  truth  was  the  sublime  assertion  of  the  Old  Dis- 
pensation ;  not  less  sublimely  asserted  in  the  New, 
but  more  fully  developed  there,  and  brought,  exe- 


252  THE  LA  MB  HOOD  OF  GOD,  ETC. 

cutivcly,  into  adaptation  to  the  life,  nature,  and 
necessities  of  man.  Damaging  constructions  of  this 
central  truth  of  all  true  religion,  through  the  refract- 
ing glasses  and  glosses  of  Pagan  theology,  have  been 
at  the  foundation  of  most  of  the  confusion  in  Chris- 
tian theology,  bringing  strife  and  mournfulncss  to 
many.  To  depart  from  Monotheism,  is  to  enter 
Polytheism. 

From  the  premises  laid  down,  the  Divinity  of  the 
Gospel  is  not  only  an  easy  but  an  inevitable  inference. 
Whatever  is  of  God  or  Godhood,  be  it  Creatorship, 
Fatherhood,  Christhood,  Lambhood,  or  Spirithood  ; 
be  it  mind  or  heart;  be  it  law  or  love,  it  being  of 
God,  and  so  far  forth  God  Himself,  is  necessarily 
Divine.  And  this  Divinity  from  the  fountain-head, 
is  all  that  our  humanity  in  its  several  phases  of  want, 
needs  to  perfect  it.  They  twain  make  one  new 
man. 

Nobody,  then,  can  doubt  the  eternity  of  the  Gospel 
if  it  is  of  God,  a  native  wealth  and  competence  of 
His  being.  The  element  of  time  does  not  appear  in 
the  origination  of  the  Fatherhood,  Christhood,  Lamb- 
hood  of  God ;  they  only  eventuate  in  time.  To 
make  the  Christian  gospel  less  ancient  than  God,  is 
to  drop  it  out  of  the  category  of  the  supernatural  and 
divine,  leaving  it  only  a  bubble  on  the  passing  stream 
of  phenomena. 

I  lere  we  touch  the  unity  of  the  Gospel.  The  whole 
moral  government  of  God,  nay,  his  universal  govern- 
ment is  one.  Its  Christ,  its  Lamb,  its  Spirit,  its  Pa- 
ternity,  all    one  —  coherently,   concurrently   one;    a 


GOD  NEEDS  NO  REINFORCEMENT.  2$$ 

vital,  organic,  harmonious  whole ;  with  no  conflict, 
discrepancy,  or  incompatibility  of  functions,  interest, 
purpose  or  tendency,  from  first  to  last.  The  end  was 
in  the  beginning,  and  the  beginning  was  competent 
to  the  end ;  and  there  was  no  intermittent  pulse  be- 
tween them,  no  mended  link  or  remedied  defects.  It 
is  a  grateful  consideration,  as  inspiring  as  it  is  true, 
that  no  regulator  had  to  be  introduced  into  the  Divine 
government  from  foreign  sources,  the  regulator  being 
in  and  of  the  government  to  begin  with.  It  is  a 
stimulating  challenge  to  love  and  trust,  that  neither 
God  nor  his  government  can  come  to  any  dead  cen- 
tres which  they  cannot  pass  without  the  aid  of  some 
additional  momentum  introduced  to  enable  them  to 
proceed.  God,  in  the  organic  premises  of  his  nature 
and  government,  is  all-sufficient  and  cannot  be  rein- 
forced. Christianity  is  a  divine  anticipation  in  the 
nature  of  God,  looking  to  the  necessities  of  man. 

Of  course  the  sufficiency  of  the  gospel  is  too  evident 
to  be  made  plainer.  Its  adequacy  is  in  itself;  its 
measure  is  its  origin.  The  adequacy  of  God  is  that 
of  his  gospel.  Does  it  not  transcend  all  human  ne- 
cessity ?  Can  the  Infinite  and  Eternal  be  mended  in 
his  own  necessities  ?  Can  He  be  helped  save  as  He 
helps  Himself? 

Here  is  the  great  challenge  to  Faith.  Confidence 
cannot  be  misplaced  or  betrayed.  The  strength  of 
it  is  in  the  pillars  and  beams  of  the  universe;  the 
foundations  of  it,  eternal  Love.  Here  Hope  roots. 
Its  strength  of  expectation  and  desire  draws  nurture 
from  the  depths  of  Deity.     Its  bloom  shall    never 

22 


254  THE  LAMBHOOD  01   GOD,  ETC. 

wither;  its  fruit  will  be  immortal.  Here  is  heart. 
Man  can  take  up  the  great  problem  of  existence  with 
a  sense  that  there  is  solid  substance  in  it.  lie  can 
approach  God  with  a  holy  boldness;  he  can  advance 
with  a  sublime  audacity  of  confidence  and  trust. 
Courage  breeds  as  it  dares.  Crowns  brighten  by  the 
conflicts  in  which  the}-  are  won.  No  greater  salva- 
tion can  there  be,  than  to  melt  into  this  heart-fire  of 
God.  The  Lambhood  of  God,  become  a  passion  in 
the  soul  of  man,  is  the  gospel  heaven.  No  greater 
punishment  can  there  be,  than  to  wake  up  at  last  and 
find  that  it  was  not  an  iron-crowned  despot,  but  this 
very  Lambhood  of  God  I  struck  at  and  resisted;  this 
suffering  gentleness  and  gentle  patience  that  loved 
me,  whose  aching  heart  my  sins  pierced,  and  whose 
sin-bearing  love  I  wounded  with  ingratitude  and  in- 
difference. This  Lambhood  is  the  Poivcr  of  God  unto 
salvation.  It  is  the  God-power  because  it  is  the  na- 
ture of  God,  original  and  eternal  as  his  Being.  He 
did  not  acquire  it  in  addition  to  his  native  compe- 
tence;  no  God  or  gods  ab  extra  brought  it  to  Him, 
or  in  any  way  contributed  enabling  considerations, 
or  augmented  his  power  to  save.  The  power  was 
already  in  Him  ;  the  ability  was  of  Him  and  eternal ; 
the  competence  could  no  more  be  aided  or  increased, 
than  could  the  being  of  God  itself.  He  was  self- 
sufficient  of  Himself.  God  could  express  and  apply 
this  eternal  competence  of  his  nature  to  the  nature 
of  man  ;  and  this  is  the  whole  matter  of  Christianity. 
Revelation  means  nothing  else.  It  is  the  forthputting, 
forthspeaking  of  the   interior  of  God's   nature,  as  a 


WHAT  THE  LA  MP,  HOOD   OF  GOD  TS  FOR.      255 

divine,  vital  power,  for  the  purpose  of  propagating 
itself  in  man's  nature  and  developing,  healing  and 
perfecting  it  in  his  own  likeness.  Of  Him  and  from 
Him  and  through  Him  and  to  Him,  are  all  things, 
to  whom  be  glory  for  ever. 

Having  shown  what  the  Lambhood  of  God  is,  I 
proceed  next  to  show  what  it  was  and  is  for,  or  how 
it  "taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  The  final  end 
of  every  revealed  truth,  determines,  not  outside  of 
us,  not  in  God,  not  in  religion,  but  in  us.  And  what 
is  that  end?  Precisely  this:  To  make  you  and  me 
and  all  God's  creatures  bearing  his  image,  finally,  in 
chaj'actcr,  like  Him.  That  is  the  end  and  the  aim  and 
the  for  of  the  whole  thought  and  scheme. 

I  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  Lambhood  of 
God  takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world  by  entering  into 
man.  The  stand  and  status  for  operation  are  not 
extraneous  to  man;  not  in  God;  not  in  Christ;  not 
in  creation ;  not  anywhere  or  anyhow  exterior  to 
man's  nature  itself.  Directly  in  it,  and  only  there, 
is  the  field  of  its  operation  and  power. 

And  I  remark  in  the  second  place  that  the  Lamb- 
hood of  God  takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world  by  get- 
ting not  only  into  man,  but  into  his  very  heart,  the 
vital  centre  of  his  being.  This  must  be  in  order  that 
the  Divine  power  thus  entering,  may  get  into  the 
vital  circulation  of  our  very  existence ;  may  flow 
wherever  its  blood  flows;  go  wherever  the  vein  or 
artery  ramifies  ;  that  it  may  get  into  the  very  juices 
of  our  existence  ;  may  mingle  with  the  generative  sap 
of  the  very  fibre  and  flavor  of  our  character,  the 


256  THE  LA MH HOOP  OF  GOD,  ETC. 

Lit,  the  digestive  and  assimilative  function  of  our 
nature. 

Ami  then  I  add,  in  the  third  place,  that  the  I. ami). 
of  (  rod  takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world  by  cleansing 
the  world.  (),  how  should  nun  ever  have  mistaken 
this?  The  very  function  we  are  speaking  of  is  that 
of  cleansing  —  actual  cleansing.  I  mean  the  cleansing 
of  persons,  of  individuals,  of  specific  and  actual  hearts 
and  minds  and  consciences  and  entire  souls.  I  make 
this  emphasis  for  the  sake  of  distinguishing  between 
what  is  actual  and  what  is  substitutional  or  hypo- 
thetical. The  cleansing  must  be  of  yourself,  and  it 
will  not  help  you  to  have  anybody  else  cleansed. 
The  whole  force  of  the  thought  must  hug  this  fact 
of  personality. 

I  low  do  you  cleanse,  for  example,  a  stain  on  the 
pure  white  paper?  How  do  you  purge  the  dark 
vicious  stain  from  the  pure  white  linen  ?  You  ply 
the  spot  with  a  hidden  yet  vital  and  forceful  chemi- 
cal, until  the  paper  becomes  whiter  and  whiter,  and 
at  last  is  as  white  as  snow.  Thus  with  your  pure 
linen  ;  you  cleanse  it ;  and  you  give  a  great  deal  some- 
times for  the  secret  as  to  how  this  may  be  done,  that 
the  good  thing  thus  damaged  for  the  time  may  not 
be  destroyed.  Just  so  there  is  a  divine  chemistry  in 
the  heart  of  God  throbbing  itself  out  sometimes  in 
tears  and  anguish,  sometimes  in  the  native  stress  of 
paternity,  that  gets  into  the  heart  and  plies  you 
there,  and  takes  the  stain  of  sin  away.  No  substitu- 
tion will  do  that;  no  faith  in  the  chemical  force  of 
God's  virtues  simply  will  do  it.     The  application  of 


EFFECTS  A  MORAL  CLEANSING.  2$y 

the  force  of  the  virtue  must  be  direct  and  personal, 
irrespective  of  all  substitutes. 

How  do  you  cleanse  a  diseased  body  ?  Your  child 
is  sick;  your  friend  is  languishing  under  the  fell  touch 
of  poisonous  infection;  and  what  is  your  course? 
You  take  the  medical  prescription  and  put  it  into 
the  very  heart  of  life ;  you  so  administer  it  that  it 
shall  be  distributed  in  the  circulation  and  work  its 
purifying  mission  in  the  blood,  in  the  very  juices  of 
life;  and  thus  your  child  becomes  medicated  and 
cleansed.  You  do  not  substitute  somebody's  life  for 
the  life  of  your  child.  You  do  not  ask  your  child  to 
look  at  the  medicine,  saying,  "  Child  of  my  heart, 
have  faith  in  that,  and  be  healed."  You  want  him  to 
have  faith  in  it  of  course ;  but  that  alone  will  not 
save  him.  You  want  him  cleansed  ;  you  want  the 
disease  taken  away  personally,  not  hypothetically. 

You  will  observe  that  it  is  a  moral  cleansing  that 
the  Gospel  contemplates,  not  a  material,  physical  or 
legal  cleansing.  You  will  further  observe  that  it  is 
not  a  ceremonial  cleansing  ;  not  a  symbolic  cleansing; 
it  is  not  the  play  of  being  made  clean  acted  upon  the 
stage,  the  observance  of  which  as  spectators  or  par- 
ticipants, is  assumed  to  be  sufficient  — not  that.  You 
may  do  that  to  the  end  of  your  days,  and  grow  in 
uncleanness. 

But  I  add,  in  the  next  place,  that  the  Lamb  of  God 
takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world  by  toning  up  the  moral 
powers  of  our  nature.  Sin  is  abnormal ;  sin  is  disease. 
It  is,  therefore,  taken  away  by  so  invigorating  the 
normal  functions  and  elements  of  our  moral  system 

22*  R 


258  THE  LAMBHOOD  01    COD,  I 

as  to  foster  convalescence,  and  enable  it  to  so  antag- 
onize and  resist  sin,  as  successfully  to  throw  it  off. 
Without  this  concurrent  nurture  and  development  of 
normal  resources,  these  capacities  and  susceptibili- 
ties created  within  us  by  God,  wherein  we  stand 
constituted  moral  beings,  the  exclusive  medication 
of  abnormal  conditions  will  never  successfully  take 
away  sin.  For  debility  is  there,  you  understand,  by 
nature.  Long  before  any  man  sinned,  he  was  capa- 
ble of  sinning.  There  was  an  "infirmity"  in  him 
that  is  "helped"  by  the  Divine  tonic.  And  what  I 
want  is,  that  man  may  have  strength  not  in  him  by 
nature  —  whether  by  development,  by  discipline,  by 
use  or  otherwise  —  so  that  sin  may  be  taken  away 
and  kept  away. 

I  add,  further,  that  sin  is  taken  away  by  fructifying 
human  nature  by  a  higher  principle  and  life  than 
naturally  and  normally  adheres  in  it ;  I  mean  the  life 
and  principle  of  the  Divine  nature  ;  in  other  words, 
the  Lambhood  of  God.     This  is  very  important. 

You  know  how  it  is  in  the  analogies  of  nature.  It 
is  not  good  for  one  clement  to  be  alone.  The  floral 
world  tells  us  how  it  is  that  a  single  flower  left  by 
itself,  is  a  barren  thing;  it  will  bloom  and  waste  its 
sweetness  on  the  air,  and  bear  no  fruit  until  it  is 
fertilized  by  a  counter-bloom.  That  is  what  our  hu- 
manity wants.  Even  if  it  had  never  sinned,  it  wants 
that  to  keep  it  from  sin;  but  having  sinned,  much 
more  does  it  need  this  high  and  new  fructification  in 
order  that  strength  may  be  generated  within  it  to 
resist  the  assaults  and  successes  of  sin. 


JUSTIFICATION—  WHAT  IS  IT?  2$g 

All  may  be  summed  up  in  this  one  grand  word: 
The  way  to  take  sin  away  from  the  world  as  well  as 
to  keep  it  away,  is,  to  propagate  the  nature  of  God  in 
the  nature  of  man.  To  generate  the  character  of  God 
in  the  character  of  man,  is  regeneration.  Then  the 
status  of  our  humanity  becomes  that  of  Divinity,  and 
we  are  saints  of  God  indeed. 

Here  a  double  action  is  inaugurated :  that  of 
assault  and  attack  against  sin  ;  and  that  of  nurture 
and  stimulation  of  right,  goodness,  holiness.  Man 
needs  to  be  stimulated,  fed  and  encouraged,  as  well 
as  to  extend  the  theatre  of  conflict  wherein  sin  is 
exterminated  and  driven  from  the  field.  For  when 
right  dethrones  wrong,  wrong  is  exiled  from  the 
realm  of  the  conflict  and  sin  is  taken  away.  When 
the  old  character  is  driven  out  by  the  expulsive 
power  of  the  incoming  new  character,  then  a  new 
nature  ensues,  and  sin  is  so  far  removed.  Just  as 
fast  as  the  Lambhood  of  God  ingenerates  itself  in 
the  naturehood  of  man,  man  is  purged  and  sin  is 
taken  away  —  not  theoretically  only,  but  actually. 
Theories  of  themselves  won't  do  us  any  good. 

So  far  as  an  unjust  man  is  made  just,  he  is  justified. 
The  meaning  of  the  word  justified  is,  made  just. 
God  never  justifies  a  man  while  he  is  in  the  wrong  ; 
because  while  in  the  wrong  God  cannot  approve  of 
him,  and  He  cannot  justify  what  He  does  not  ap- 
prove. His  wrong  must  be  driven  out  of  him ;  and 
the  power  to  drive  it  out  and  take  it  away  and  make 
him  righteous,  is  in  God,  "  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world."     It  did  not  have   to  be   put  into   Him 


200  THE  LAMBHOOD  <>/■  GOD,  ETC. 

some  time  afterwards.  And  when  that  God-power 
is  used  by  man,  and  becomes  through  his  fidelity  a 

power  of  character  in  him,  then  his  sin  is  taken  away. 
Now  God  can  approve  of  him  ;  now  He  can  justify 
him  ;  for  man  thus  conforms  to  God,  the  ever  just 
and  true. 

So  men  are  sanctified  as  far  as  the  sanctity  of  God 
pervades  and  purifies  their  life  and  character.  I  know 
many  are  sensitive  about  these  words,  life  and  char- 
acter. How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  those  who  come 
upon  the  mountain  with  good  tidings.  The  beauty 
depends  upon  the  height ;  distance  lends  enchant- 
ment to  the  view.  But  let  the  feet  of  the  prophet 
tread  the  valleys  where  sin  lives,  and  apply  his  fiery 
message  with  "  Thou  art  the  man,"  and  the  saluta- 
tion is  very  different.  "Away  with  him!  Away 
with  him  !     Crucify  him  !  " 

Men  are  redeemed  —  actually,  I  mean,  not  substi- 
tutional^—  when  the  power  of  redemption  becomes 
enthroned  in  their  nature,  dethroning  the  power  of 
sin  and  destruction,  or  taking  it  away.  Redemp- 
tion means  getting  a  man  out  of  wrong ;  but  to  get 
him  out  of  wrong  is  only  to  get  wrong  out  of  him. 
There  is  no  other  possible  way  to  rectify  him. 

Thus  we  see  what  the  great  Reconciliation  of  the 
Gospel  is.  God  is  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  Himself;  that  is,  harmonizing  its  character  to 
his  own  character.  Man  is  reconciled  to  God  when 
he  reciprocates  God's  reconciliation  from  the  foun- 
(1  it  ion  of  the  world  to  him.  That  is,  when  the  soul 
within  us  reciprocates  that  love  which  first  loved  us, 


A  TONEMENT—  WHA  T  IS  IT?  26 1 

then  the  great  chord  of  God  and  man  is  struck,  and 
the  music  of  reconciliation  begins. 

Exactly  so  with  Atonement.  How  men  haggle 
with  this  word,  and  much  more  with  the  idea!  They 
bandy  it  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  as  we  kick  a  foot- 
ball in  a  game.  Many  times  they  don't  know  the 
first  meaning  of  it.  They  use  it  as  a  kind  of  talis- 
manic  charm  or  mystic  sorcery  in  the  play,  wherein 
they  exercise  their  faith  and  hope  of  heaven.  Let 
us  see.  The  power  of  atonement  is  the  power  of 
the  Lambhood  of  God ;  the  Lamb  nature  of  God. 
When  that  power,  therefore,  becomes  an  executed 
fact  in  your  moral  nature,  transforming  that  nature, 
through  your  fidelity,  into  a  new  character,  then  your 
sin  is  atoned  for  and  actually  taken  away.  Otherwise 
it  remains  in  you.  You  may  formulate  your  theo- 
ries of  atonement  till  you  are  tired  ;  they  will  not 
touch  your  character  until  the  power  of  atonement 
enters  you  as  a  character-creator,  taking  away  your 
wrongness  and  putting  in  its  place,  or  helping  you  to 
put  in  its  place,  that  which  is  right  and  true  and  pure. 
Atonement  objectively  considered,  that  is,  as  it  stands 
stated  in  God,  is  simply  the  heart  power  of God,  to  be 
let  into  your  heart  like  a  life-stream  to  make  you 
pure  and  sweet  and  holy. 

The  washing  of  regeneration  we  read  of  right  here 
in  the  Book,  is  a  grand  and  glorious  idea.  But  it  is 
not  a  washing  outside  of  man;  it  is  a  washing  inside 
of  him,  or  it  will  not  benefit  him.  A  washing  of 
regeneration,  or  anything  else  that  leaves  man's 
character  just  as  it  was  before,  is  a  mere  mockery. 


262  THE  LAMBHOOD  <'/    GOD,  ETC. 

It  is  the  juggler's  game,  or  the  game  of  the  dupe. 
The  washing  that  God  means  is  a  washing  that  takes 
hold,  cleansing  the  man's  character,  making  it  clean 
and  pure  and  righteous.  No  matter  how  orthodox 
your  theory  of  the  Divine  "soap  and  water"  may 
be;  the  only  orthodox  question  about  the  matter  is, 
1  low  clean  are  you  ?  How  clean  ?  I  low  thoroughly 
rubbed  and  scrubbed  and  rinsed  out  are  your  life 
and  character,  by  this  cleansing  power  before  God? 
"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  perceive 
God."  The  grand  Gospel  of  our  souls  is  net  some 
sublime  or  divine  washing-machine,  to  be  praised 
and  glorified  in  grandiloquent  way,  as  if  that  would 
make  one  white  ;  as  if  that  would  save  us.  Our  char- 
acters need  to  be  fomented  and  fulled  and  bleached 
by  the  detergent  vitality  of  truth  and  love.  The 
grand  Gospel  is  a  stream  of  chemical  divinity  that 
must  pour  itself  through  us,  and  drench  us  through 
and  through,  or  our  sins  will  not  be  washed  away. 

O,  thousands  upon  thousands  are  there  who  would 
much  rather  ride  into  heaven  upon  the  shoulders  of 
some  substituted  sin-bearer,  than  forsake  their  own 
sins  and  foot  it  for  themselves  by  way  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  How  much  more  eagerly  would  they 
cling  to  that  proxy  way  of  being  saved, -than  hold 
themselves  responsible  to  that  moral  code  which 
steers  clear  of  sin,  and  helps  God  to  get  it  out  of 
them.  This  is  the  reason  why  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands who  are  often  called  Christians,  seem  at  last 
so  unwashed,  so  uncleansed.  Praising  the  Fountain 
of  salvation  don't  save  anybody.     The  great  ques- 


PUTTIXG  CHRIST  INTO    THE  SOUL.  263 

tion  still  comes,  How  clean  has  that  Fountain  made 
you  as  to  your  life  —  your  character?  There  the 
matter  stands  and  will  stand,  and  hugs  us  closely. 
No  wonder  we  want  to  shake  it  off.  No  wonder 
that  proxy  faith  sometimes  says,  that  putting  Christ 
directly  into  the  soul  in  this  searching  personal  man- 
ner, is  a  "  departure  from  the  Gospel."  It  is  a  de- 
parture from  their  Gospel. 

Be  it  remembered  that  the  Lambhood  of  God — the 
Christ  of  God  —  did  not  come  into  the  world  simply 
to  make  money  for  us  that  we  may  be  idle,  and  in 
our  idleness  steer  clear  of  the  disadvantage  of  bank- 
ruptcy. The  power  of  God  in  his  Lamb  or  his  Christ, 
came  into  this  world  to  tell  us  how  we  may  make 
money  for  ourselves,  and  so  lay  up  the  treasure  of 
heaven.  "  Thou  oughtest  therefore  to  have  put  my 
money  to  usury,"  said  Divine  Wisdom.  "  Thou 
oughtest  to  have  made  the  five  talents  ten,"  was  the 
condemning  rebuke  administered  to  the  primitive 
Antinomian.  Trusting  to  Christ,  with  Christ  left 
out  of  life  and  manhood  and  womanhood  and  char- 
acter, is  substitution  indeed ;  but  the  substitution  is 
that  of  the  word  for  the  thing  meant. 

Two  theories  have  held  the  world  in  division  from 
the  first.  One  holds  that  the  Gospel  tells  us  of  the 
Divine  goodness,  purity,  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness which  God  takes  and  substitutes  for  our  good- 
ness, purity,  holiness  and  righteousness ;  and  on  the 
ground  of  this  substitution,  assumes  to  save  us  irre- 
spective of  our  works.  The  other  holds  that  this 
same  Divine  goodness,  righteousness,  purity,  holi- 


THE  LAMBHOOD  01   GOD,  1  TC. 

ness  is  not  a  substitute  for  our  own  qualities  and 
character,  but  a  God-power  to  create  these  very 
qualities  and  virtues  in  us,  and  thus  make  us  meet 
for  heaven.     Between  these  two  you  must  choose. 

The  first  is  the  speculative  view  of  the  Gospel ;  the 
second,  the  practical.  The  first  is  the  scholastic  view  ; 
the  second,  the  Biblical.  The  former  is  the  legal 
conception  ;  the  latter,  the  moral  and  spiritual.  One 
is  the  symbolical  and  ceremonial  and  ritual  view; 
the  other  is  the  ethical,  real,  actual,  personal,  vital 
view.  The  first-named  holds  that  faitli  alone  saves 
without  works  ;  the  last  says  that  faith  is  good  for 
nothing  except  it  be  substantiated  and  proved  by 
works. 

Hence  the  corresponding  division  upon  the  whole 
matter  of  human  responsibility.  Both,  you  know, 
quote  the  passage,  "  Work  out  your  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling;  "  but  while  on  the  one  hand  it  is 
held  that  God  is  supposed  to  take  hold  of  man  by 
absolute  power,  just  as  you  may  hitch  your  team  to 
the  plough  and  drag  it  through  whether  it  will  or 
not ;  on  the  other  hand  it  is  claimed  that  God  and 
all  that  is  revealed  of  Him  coming  into  contact  with 
us,  acts  as  a  vital  inspiration,  as  a  vital  motive -power 
upon  us,  whereby  all  our  dormant  powers  and  sleep- 
ing capacities  are  roused  into  action,  and  so  man  is 
put  upon  conscious  endeavor  Godward  in  his  own 
behalf.  Both  quote  this  other  passage,  "  Without 
me  ye  can  do  nothing."  They  are  the  words  of 
Christ;  but  while  one  holds  that  Christ  uses  man, 
assuming  to  take  him  up  in  his  arms  and  carry  him 


MAN  A  CO-WORKER  WITH  GOD.  265 

along  passively,  without  any  endeavor  on  man's 
part;  the  other  holds  that  man  must  use  Christ,  or 
the  power-of  God  in  Christ,  as  a  help,  laying  hold 
of  Him,  as  it  were,  the  power  of  eternal  life.  Man 
must  use  these  Divine  helps,  without  which  he  can  do 
nothing,  that  they  may  stay  his  infirmities  and  be- 
come strength  in  place  of  his  weakness,  enabling 
him  to  do  what  without  them  he  could  not  do.  It 
is  a  glorious  consolation,  that  God  does  not  require 
us  to  do  anything  without  that  help ;  but  it  is  an 
equally  strong  and  irrevocable  truth,  that  that  help 
being  given,  we  shall  accomplish  nothing  unless  we 
use  it. 

Here  is  where  we  come  into  the  grand  co-opera- 
tion. Paul  speaks  of  men  as  co-workers  with  God. 
Here  God's  heart  works,  turns,  labors  towards  us,  in 
order  that  it  may  wake  ours  responsive  to  it ;  a  grand 
reciprocity  of  human  and  Divine  action  and  life, 
taking  away  sin.  Divine  inspiration  throbbing  down 
out  of  the  very  Lambhood  of  God  into  human  hearts, 
that  aspiration  may  be  born  and  love  be  awakened, 
reciprocating  the  love  that  first  loved  us  —  this  re- 
generates and  saves. 

The  whole  matter  of  these  two  opinions,  these  two 
modes  of  thinking  of  the  Gospel,  standing  opposite 
each  other,  may  be  summed  up  thus  :  One  holds  that 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  is  of  no  advantage  to  man,  any 
further  than  that  gospel  is  in  him  changing  his  char- 
acter from  wrong  to  right,  from  stain  to  purity,  from 
weakness  to  power,  from  impotence  to  high  strength ; 
of  no  sort  of  use  touching  salvation  outside  of  man 


266  THE  I A  Mil  HOOD  OF  GOD,  ETC. 

—  but  must  come  inside  of  him,  and  be  a  reality  in 
his  personal  character.  That  is  one  view.  The  other 
view  leaves  out  of  the  question  human  works  and 
human  character,  and  looks  upon  salvation  as  some- 
thing executed  outside  of  man's  nature,  in  God,  in 
his  government  or  Christ;  holding  that  this  Divine 
work  and  righteousness  thus  provided,  are  to  be  sub- 
stituted in  place  of  man's  works  and  righteousness  ; 
and  on  this  ground  man  is  to  be  saved.  This  is  the 
other  view.  Or  briefer  still :  One  presents  the  Gospel 
as  a  power  to  create  in  man  a  heavenly  character ; 
the  other  regards  it  as  offering  a  substitute  for  such 
character.     So  much  for  the  difference. 

This,  then,  is  the  application  of  the  Lambhood  of 
God  to  the  wants  of  mankind,  and  the  practical  de- 
velopment of  its  economy  in  the  sphere  of  human 
nature.  Thus  as  moral  beings  we  are  brought  into 
grand  concurrent  action  with  God,  and  the  true  idea 
of  the  Gospel  problem  is  stated. 

And  how  beautiful  all  this  seems!  How  like  the 
charm  of  a  benediction  it  comes  down  from  the  skies 
and  beyond  the  skies,  upon  our  parched  and  needy 
earth  of  humanity!  What  grandeur,  what  far-reach- 
ing scope  of  wisdom,  love  and  power,  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world  !  Fearful  stress  of  the  paternal 
heart,  native  to  that  heart,  throbbing  out  in  time  to 
touch  you  and  me,  waking  responsively  the  filial 
tear,  the  filial  repentance,  the  filial  love,  that  the 
child  and  the  Father  may  be  one  again!  This 
beauty  of  life,  this  forceful  searching  virtue  of  God 
pervading  man's  nature  and  purging  the  very  texture 


GOD  IS  XOT  A  HARD  MASTER.  l6j 

thereof,  how  genial,  how  beautiful,  how  hopeful !  O, 
where  is  the  faith  that  will  turn  away  from  this  to 
dream  of  a  better  ? 

For  it  is  no  dry  externalism,  you  see ;  it  is  no  dry, 
heated,  fiery  legalism  ;  but  the  mellow  summer  of 
God,  all  dripping  with  dew  upon  the  very  expectancy 
of  our  native  bud  and  bloom,  to  bring  it  forth  to  fruit 
and  perfectness. 

God  is  no  hard  master  put  in  this  way — O  no. 
He  never  appears  a  hard  master  when  we  ask  the 
New  Testament  for  Him,  or  the  Old  one  when  we 
get  down  beneath  the  letter ;  for  He  is  all  the  time 
sending  the  rain  upon  the  unjust  as  well  as  the  just, 
starting  in  us  intelligence  and  hunger;  suffering  our 
very  dereliction,  our  very  ingratitude,  our  very  sins 
even,  that  we  may  finally  come  to  right  and  truth 
and  love. 

If  you  sin,  O  soul,  you  do  not  sin  in  an  economy 
of  government  that  dooms  you  to  disaster  in  the 
premises  ;  there  is  a  second  opportunity  for  you.  If 
you  sin,  don't  tarry  long  over  your  sin;  all  you  need 
in  your  heart  is,  just  to  feel  that  grief  which  your  sin 
has  created  in  the  heart  of  God.  Your  sin  does  not 
sting  Him  to  rage;  your  sin  does  not  unsheathe  the 
flaming  sceptre  of  his  fury ;  it  breaks  the  tear  foun- 
tain of  his  nature  —  that  very  nature  which  I  mean 
by  the  Lambhood  of  God  the  Father. 

This  is  the  deep,  vital,  gentle  power  that  is  work- 
ing- wonders  in  the  world.  At  first  the  world  was 
hard,  crude,  undeveloped ;  and  it  could  not  make 
much   show.     God  had  to  handle  it  with  a  rough 


268  THE  LAMBHOOD  OF  COD,  ETC.. 

share.  Hut  Providence  is  mellowing  the  soul  of 
humanity;  this  gentle  tear-life  of  God  is  working  at 

the  very  roots  of  the  world,  and  throwing  up  beauty 

and  sweetness  and  bloom.  Why,  don't  you  know 
this  is  just  the  way  God  is  making  the  second  Eden? 
And  when  lie  gets  the  spiritual  Eden  —  the  new 
Eden  —  done,  no  serpent  will  wddsper  there;  no 
frailty  will  discrown  manhood  or  soil  the  charm  of 
womanhood.  That  will  be  the  Paradise  Confirmed. 
Unto  that  all  this  Gospel  economy  is  tending.  That 
is  what  it  is  all  for;  that  is  what  it  all  means. 

Trust  in  God,  then,  O  soul.  Give  your  heart  to 
his  heart.  If  He  makes  it  ache  and  weep,  your 
earthly  father  did  the  same  when  you  were  a  child; 
and  when  manhood's  years  came,  O  how  you 
th. inked  him  for  the  strong  hand  and  the  severe 
rein  ! 

There  is  no  favoritism  in  this  world  of  God;  there 
is  no  partiality  or  respect  of  persons.  Sorrow  is  for 
the  whole  world  and  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  The 
gates  are  open  to  all  the  world  ;  whosoever  accepts, 
passes  in  ;  whosoever  scorns,  he  alone  must  bear  it; 
there  is  no  excuse;  every  lip  is  sealed. 

Thank  God  for  life  in  such  a  world,  in  such  a  gov- 
ernment. Thank  Him  for  the  glorious  outlook  into 
a  world  that  shall  be  cloudless,  tearless,  deathless. 
Thank  Him  when  you  have  heart-aches  that  are 
throbbing  out  by  a  kind  of  stressful  maternity,  the 
birth  of  these  higher  revelations  and  restorations, 
the  coming  back  of  those  confidences  committed  to 
God  in  the  dark  hours.     Thank  Him  for  the  mend- 


REASONS  FOR  EXULTATION.  269 

ing  of  the  broken  chains,  and  for  the  re-living  of  the 
withered  flowers  of  beauty  and  charm.  Thank  God 
for  these,  and  for  the  depths  of  faith  that  can  receive 
and  appropriate  them,  and  for  the  Gospel  that  gives 
this  right. 

For  every  beauty  that  shall  retint  the  faded  skies 
of^ife;  for  every  flower  that  shall  blush  again  upon 
its  parched  pathway ;  for  every  lamp  that  shall  re- 
lume its  chambers  of  night  and  silence;  and  for 
every  crowned  victor  that  shall  spring  from  its 
graves,  thank  Him  ;  and  by  the  gift  become  like  the 
Giver. 

From  the  Lambhood  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world,  shoots  up  the  great  exultation : 

See  Truth,  Love  and  Mercy  in  triumph   descending, 
And  Nature  all  glowing  in  Eden's  first  bloom; 

On  the  cold  cheek  of  Death  smiles  and  roses  are  blending, 
And   Beauty  immortal  awakes  from  the  tomb. 
23* 


XVIII. 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  bu^tny 
Word  shall  not  pass  away.  —  Matth.  v.  18. 

A  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  tnvn  house- 
hold.—  Matthew  x.  36. 

Cod  hath  made  us  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament,  not  of  the  letter  but  of  the 
spirit.  —  2  Corinthians  iii.  6. 

He  that  hath  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  is  none 
of  his.  —  Romans  viii.  9. 

If  this  counsel  or  this  -.cork  be  of  man,  it  will 
come  to  naught;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  you 
cannot  overthrow  it.  —  Acts  v.  3S,  39. 

CHRISTIANITY  ever  since  its  birth,  has  had  its 
so-called  foes.  There  has  always  been  a  great 
deal  of  anxiety  about  its  fortunes.  Men  stood  in 
fear  and  trembling  with  respect  to  it  before  Celsus, 
Porphyry,  Julian,  and  hosts  of  others  attacking  it 
externally.  Even  Paul  himself  was  branded  as  a 
heretic  opposed  to  the  true  faith.  Look  a  little  at 
this  matter  of  solicitude. 

A  great  and  leading  foe,  spotted  as  opposed  to 
Christianity,  is  and  has  been  called  Science.  Paul 
speaks  of  this.  But  what  he  had  in  mind  by  science 
in  that  day,  was,  of  course,  the  science  that  existed 
then  ;  the  speculations  and  philosophical  theories  of 
men.  True  science  had  not  yet  been  born.  There- 
fore we  feel  in  this  day  at  liberty  to  say,  that  neither 

270 


RA  TIONALISM  AND  SCEPTICISM.  27 1 

religious  nor  any  other  truth,  is  in  any  peril  whatever 
from  true  science.  For  true  science  is  the  thinking  of 
God.  While  false  science,  like  every  falsity  in  the 
thinking  of  man,  is  sure  to  dispose  of  itself.  All  lies 
are  harmless  in  the  end.  For  like  a  combination  of 
factors,  one  of  which  is  a  cipher,  the  product  is  frus- 
tr^flon  —  nothing. 

Another  great  enemy,  which  is  and  has  been  feared, 
is  called  Rationalism.  I  know  these  names  are  used 
as  nick-names  mainly ;  but  then  a  careful  observer 
of  the  human  mind  understands  that  a  nick-name  is 
all  the  stock  in  trade  which  a  great  many  have.  It 
is  fact,  logic  and  devotion  combined.  It  exhausts 
their  methods  of  warfare  ;  it  exhausts  their  resources 
generally.  Truth,  whether  religious  or  any  other, 
has  never  anything  to  fear  from  reason  — .never. 
Reason  in  us  helps  to  make  the  image  of  God ;  it  is 
the  organ  his  intelligence  holds  converse  with.  The 
great  thing  to  be  feared  just  here  is  not  reason  but 
z/#-reason  —  the  lack  of  reason  ;  the  darkness  which  its 
luminous  orb  should  replace.  My  people  are  de- 
stroyed from  lack  of  knowledge,  said  the  Prophet ; 
and  that  is  what  every  true  prophet  has  said  in  this 
earth.  The  great  thing  to  be  feared  is,  not  this  grand 
function  of  God  in  the  world,  but  its  broken  half;  rea- 
son with  one  wing,  with  one  foot ;  reason  as  a  cold 
dead  taper  snuffed  out,  or  carried  about  unlighted  in 
the  world.     Thence  come  the  blind  leading  the  blind. 

Another  reputed  foe  has  been  christened  Doubt  or 
Scepticism.  What  does  that  word  mean  ?  Skeptomai, 
a  Greek  word,  means  to  inspect,  to  examine,  to  care- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

fully  scrutinize  any  matter  presented,  as  to  whether 

it  is  worthy  of  credence  or  not.  This  kind  of  doubt 
is  the  balance  of  credulity;  a  pausing  for  evidence; 
a  demand  for  evidence.  This  questioning  is  the  only- 
safeguard  against  superstition  and  cheat.  Did  you 
ever  think  that  no  man  ever  believed  anything 
with  more  strength  than  he  doubted  the  opposite  ? 
Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  every  action  of  your 
mind,  when  your  credence  is  challenged,  exercises 
itself  under  a  double-poled  function?  If  you  come 
to  the  fork  of  the  road,  just  in  proportion  as  you  be- 
lieve the  right  to  be  the  true  way,  you  doubt  the  left. 
If  you  listen  to  the  different  statements  made  by  two 
men  on  the  same  matter,  just  in  proportion  as  you 
doubt  one  you  believe  the  other.  Doubt  is  as  good 
a  thing  as  faith,  if  you  are  careful  as  to  what  it  refers. 
You  had  better  doubt  the  devil  than  believe  in  him. 
You  had  better  doubt  a  lie,  than  have  faith  in  it. 
Yet  men  who  follow  the  trade  of  jugglers  have  used 
this  word  "  doubt "  as  a  scarecrow,  and  called  men 
sceptics  who  only  doubted  the  divinity  of  the  assail- 
ants' profession.  The  very  first  thing  Christianity 
did  in  the  world,  was  to  challenge  inspection  from 
all  minds,  commanding  them  to  search  its  authorities, 
even  the  very  documents  that  assume  to  hold  it  and 
vouch  for  its  genuineness. 

Another  foe  has  been  named  Infidelity.  Well,  this 
word  has  a  meaning  —  a  strong  meaning.  But  al- 
ways when  you  use  it  or  hear  it  used,  ask  yourself 
to  what  it  is  referred.  Infidelity  means  disloyalty, 
unfaithfulness,  disbelief.     But  I  had   infinitely  rather 


INFIDELITY  AND  WORLDLINESS.  2J% 

be  infidel  towards  a  falsehood,  than  to  become  a  be- 
liever in  falsehood.  I  had  vastly  rather  be  unfaithful 
towards  wrong,  than  to  be  faithful  to  it  It  depends 
always  upon  what  you  are  talking  about,  and  how 
you  understand  yourself.  For  myself,  I  never  feel 
better  than  sometimes  when  I  am  called  infidel  —  for 
then,  at  least,  I  am  sure  that  I  am  in  good  company. 
Our  reading  has  to  go  but  a  little  way  to  find  that 
some  of  the  brightest,  purest  and  noblest  of  Chris- 
tian men  on  earth,  have  been  branded  as  "infidels." 
You  have  but  to  go  down  into  the  Turkish  Empire 
to  find  yourself  and  all  Christendom  branded  as 
"  infidel  dogs."  Of  course,  they  are  Arabs  and  Bar- 
barians and  Bedouins  who  say  this ;  but  they  claim  to 
be  the  only  orthodox  believers  in  the  world.  One 
of  the  brightest  luminaries  in  the  most  famed  theo- 
logical seminary  in  the  land,  within  our  memory, 
was  called  an  infidel  because  of  some  of  his  interpre- 
tations of  the  Bible.  To  determine  whether  a  so- 
called  infidel  is  a  foe  to  Christianity  or  not,  you  must 
first  understand  clearly  and  distinctly  to  what  the 
word  is  applied,  who  applies  it,  and  for  zvhat  purpose. 
Again  :  Woiicilincss,  or  secularism,  has  been  re- 
garded as  hostile  to  Christianity.  Worldliness,  tech- 
nically and  actually,  has  stood  as  the  great  anti-Christ 
of  faith.  God  on  one  side,  and  worldliness  on  the 
other,  makes  the  battle.  But  when  we  examine,  it 
will  appear  an  easy  thing  for  any  boy  to  cipher  out, 
whether  Omnipotence  on  one  side  will  be  likely  to 
be  overthrown  by  the  weaker  party  on  the  other. 
Read  the  last  passage  I  quoted  from  the  Acts  :  "  If 


?~  1  CHRISTIANITY  ,4  KD  HER  FOES. 

this  counsel  and   this  work   be   <>f  man,  it  will    come 
to  naught;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overtlu 
it"     One  of  the  greatest  evils  Christianity  has  1. 
obliged  to  suffer,  has  come  from  this  scepticism  of 
faith,  this  want  of  confidence  by  men  in  their  own 
belief.     The    Romanist    says,    Protestantism    is    ill 
great   foe   to   Christianity.      Protestantism    replie  , 
Romanism  is  the  great  destructive  enginery  again  t 
Christianity.      And    so    the    indictment    goes    on. 
hint  let  us  talk  a  little  more  directly  and  positively. 

The  real  foes  of  Christianity  are  such  as  these  : 
First,  those  who,  whether  inside  the  church  or  out- 
side the  church,  insist  upon  making  a  definition  of 
Christianity  out  of  its  accidents;  those  who  insist 
that  the  very  essence  and  foundation  of  this  religion 
are  to  be  found  in  the  material,  sensuous,  and  phe- 
nomenal aspects  of  it.  If  a  man  outside  the  church 
wishes  to  stigmatize  Christianity,  he  will  get  up  a 
definition  of  it,  and  make  that  definition  out  of  what 
Christianity  sloughed  off  a  thousand  years  ago. 
And  when  he  has  made  his  definition  he  will  say  : 
"There  is  your  Christianity.  A  man  of  straw;  a 
bundle  of  old  clothes;  and  what  is  it  good  for?" 
Give  any  advocate  the  privilege  of  making  the  evi- 
dence on  the  other  side,  and  his  case  is  an  easy  one. 
Under  such  an  arrangement  you  don't  want  but  one 
lawyer. 

The  inside  enemy  does  the  same  thing  —  not,  of 
course,  with  the  same  intent.  lie  professes  to  be  the 
friend  of  Christianity.  But  carving  her  definition 
out  of  her  phenomenal  aspects,  her  imperfect,  mutable 


w 


THE  INSIDE  ENEMIES.  275 

and  perishing  accidents,  he  is  from  his  position  a 
greater  foe  to  her  life,  health,  and  growth,  than  all 
the  outside  enemies  that  have  banded  against  her. 
They  are  open  ;  he  is  disguised.  Persecution  never 
kills  truth  ;  false  patronage  is  deadly.  It  buries  the 
truth  alive ;  incarcerates  it ;  suffocates  it ;  makes  a 
mummy  of  it,  a  husk,  a  stone;  and  then  says,  On  this 
rock  I  build.  The  inside  enemy  is  in  secret  league 
with  the  outside  enemy,  which  twain  constitute  the 
great  Anti-Christ  of  the  world. 

Again :  he  is  an  enemy  to  Christianity  whose 
method  of  handling  it  is  such  that  the  whole  problem 
of  Christian  life,  character,  and  culture,  is  made  to 
consist  in  believing,  observing  and  manipulating  the 
external  matters  out  of  which  the  false  definition  was 
made.  This  kind  of  conventional  industry,  with  im- 
plicit faith  in  it,  is  put  in  the  place  of  Christ  and  his 
spirit  in  personal  character.  He  who  makes  it  a 
matter  of  salvation  to  swing  with  hooks  in  his  back, 
count  his  beads,  boast  of  his  ancestors,  or  invoice  his 
orthodoxy,  makes  the  mistakes  Christ  came  to  cor- 
rect. He  puts  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac  in  place  of 
the  year's  work.  He  who  manages  spiritual  hus- 
bandry in  that  way,  is  a  foe  to  Christianity;  —  not  so 
much  intentionally,  or  with  malice  aforethought,  as 
in  blindness  and  falseness.  He  is  her  undertaker 
more  truly  than  her  disciple. 

Another  real  enemy  to  Christianity  is  Bibliolatry ; 
the  worship  of  the  Book,  instead  of  the  worship  of 
the  God  of  the  Book.  As  you  read  the  letter  of 
your  friend's  heart,  does  your  heart  throb  towards  its 


276  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

ink  and  paper  and  seal  ?  Or  is  the  great  substance 
and  essence  of  the  whole  thing  that  friend's  heart  ' 
You  read  the  letter  again  and  again,  seeking  its 
meaning.  You  call  in  another  friend  and  ask  him 
what  this  sentence  or  that  phrase  means  ;  and  you 
study  it  until,  by  and  by,  you  get  the  whole.  Then 
you  can  put  the  letter  into  the  waste-basket,  into  the 
fire,  and  lose  nothing,  because  the  great  thing  it 
means  is  in  you  ;  and  though  heaven  and  earth  pass 
away,  that  meaning  will  still  abide.  We  want  the 
spirit,  the  deep  life  of  this  Book.  We  do  not  want 
a  sentence  or  a  letter  stricken  out.  Thousands  of 
commentators  are  at  work  upon  it,  but  no  two  of  them 
agree. 

And  so  you  and  I  are  driven,  in  our  poor  necessi- 
ties, to  give  the  verdict  ourselves.  And  we  feel  at 
liberty  to  do  that,  because  the  great  Word  has  said: 
"  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind;" 
"  If  any  man  will  do  the  will,  he  shall  know  the  doc- 
trine." I  choose  the  heavenly  Master,  not  the  earthly 
masters;  and  so  must  you.  Such  is  not  only  truth, 
but  Christian  truth  ;  not  only  Christian  truth,  but 
Protestant  truth  through  and  through.  And  if  we 
cannot  read  the  full  meaning  of  the  Bible  until  we 
get  into  eternity,  very  well.  I  do  not  suppose  we 
can  —  though  a  good  many  scan  to  have  done  it  — 
seem  to  have  sounded  the  whole  matter,  and  to  have 
laid  it  away  as  settled  forever.  But  God  is  greater  than 
all  his  words.  Worship  God,  then,  and  not  any 
mere  word  He  has  spoken.  The  letter  killcth,  while 
the  spirit  giveth  life  evermore. 


IDEAS  OF  THE  DIVINE  GOVERNMENT.       2J7 

Another  real  foe  to  Christianity  is  a  false  concep- 
tion of  the  Divine  Government.  Men  do  not  intend 
wrong  in  this ;  but  when  they  find  out  the  wrong, 
and  still  insist  upon  it,  then  they  are  perverse  in 
purpose. 

A  false  conception  of  the  Divine  Government,  in 
the  first  place,  lies  in  the  implication  that  it  were  im- 
perfect to  begin  with ;  that  in  the  administration  of 
that  government,  its  very  functions  and  operations 
might  come  to  a  dead-lock,  by  virtue  of  which  that 
government  could  not  go  on  until  relieved  and  ena- 
bled to  act  by  some  extraneous  aid  coming  to  its  res-' 
cue.  Whereas  the  truth  is,  that  that  government  was 
and  is  able  and  competent,  from  first  to  last,  without 
any  additional  legislation,  without  any  amendment 
or  improvement  in  any  sense.  Such  is  the  true  con- 
ception. Hence,  from  the  false  conception,  men 
have  ever  regarded  Christ  and  the  Gospel  and 
Christianity  as  the  means  by  which  that  govern- 
ment is  secured,  established,  and  its  integrity  main- 
tained. 

But  still  another  false  conception  lies  in  assuming 
that  the  grand  gift  of  Christianity  contemplates  sin 
and  only  sin  in  the  world ;  nothing  but  mortal  or 
moral  sickness.  Whereas  the  Gospel  is  the  very 
staff  of  life —  nutriment  for  the  healthy  soul,  as  well 
as  medicine  for  the  diseased.  "  I  am  the  bread  of 
life  come  down  from  heaven,"  says  the  great  Pro- 
vider. It  is  for  stimulating  growth  as  well  as  for 
curing  sin  and  purifying  from  evil.     We  want  the 

whole  truth,  and  not  the  half  only ;  and  he  is  a  foe 

24 


2~Z  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

to  Christianity  who  smites  her  in  twain,  and  would 
leave  her  thus  half  dead  by  the  way. 

Another  false  conception  lies  in  the  assumption 
that  the  Gospel  of  Christianity  seeks  to  introduce  a 
Substitute  for  purity  and  holiness,  instead  of  the  vir- 
tues themselves.  The  truth  is,  that  the  government 
of  God  contemplates  and  demands  these  virtues  in 
each  one  of  us,  and  gave  Christianity  as  the  power 
to  create  such  righteousness  and  true  holiness  in  us 
personally.  It  is  no  fiction,  therefore  —  no  compli- 
mentary card  which  the  bankrupt  may  present  at  the 
exchequer  of  the  skies,  saying,  Take  this  instead  of 
what  I  owe.  Why,  the  punctilious  Frenchman  acted 
upon  better  wisdom  —  for  there  was  less  profanation 
in  it  —  when  he  approached  the  altar  and  dropped 
his  card  upon  it,  paying  thus  his  respects  to  the  Al- 
mighty and  his  duty.  These,  and  matters  like  these, 
constitute  the  real,  biting,  damaging  hostility  to  vital 
and  essential  Christianity. 

Another  foe  is  the  assumed  antagonism  of  Chris- 
tianity and  other  truth.  I  say  it  is  assumed,  because 
it  is  a  false  notion  that  science  and  reason  are  hos- 
tile to  this  faith  ;  incompatible  with  it ;  irreconcilable. 
They  are  all  brethren  of  the  same  Father. 

Still  another  false  foe  lies  in  the  thought  that 
nothing  but  science  is  religion  ;  that  the  only  religion 
a  man  wants  is  scientific  truth. 

Equally  false  is  the  foe  who  declares  that  there 
shall  be  no  science  at  all  about  religion.  All  truth  is 
fraternal  with  Christian  truth.  This  is  not  a  divided 
household   in  the  kingdom  of  God  or  the  kingdom 


REVELATION,  REASON,  AND  SCIENCE.        2J$ 

of  humanity.  I  said  in  the  beginning  that  science 
is  nothing  but  the  thinking  of  God;  and  can  you 
have  any  religion  that  disfellowships  the  thinking  of 
God  ?  One  of  the  greatest  curses  that  have  left  their 
blight  on  the  religious  world,  is  this  divorce  of  Chris- 
tianity from  the  light  of  reason  and  common  sense  ; 
the  putting  out  of  the  torch  of  science,  the  flaming 
stars,  the  glory  of  the  emerald  and  the  topaz  about 
the  throne,  whose  dim  reflection  is  God's  candle  in 
the  earth. 

Now,  with  such  a  front  presented  as  the  definition 
of  Christianity,  do  you  wonder  that  the  intelligence 
of  mankind  stands  aloof  from  it,  and  is  arrayed 
against  it?  With  such  a  definition,  do  you  wonder 
that  God  raised  up  Voltaires  and  Humes  and  the 
sharp  critics  of  later  times  to  pick  the  flaws  ?  Do 
you  wonder  that  in  this  age  of  the  world  men  stand 
forth  and  protest  against  f.  i  whole  "  syllabus  "  of 
such  presentation  ?  Why,  under  this  view  you  see 
science  and  religion  arrayed  against  each  other  ;  God 
in  nature  and  God  in  grace,  God  in  astronomy,  geol- 
ogy, Genesis  and  the  soul,  put  into  interminable  con- 
flict. Under  such  a  conception  of  Christianity  reason 
stands  arrayed  against  it ;  civilization  is  against  it ; 
all  progress  and  improvement  dead  against  it ;  man- 
hood ignores  it,  and  God  himself  discards  the  whole 
thing.  This  false  putting  of  the  matter  has  made  all 
the  real  infidels  in  the  world.  It  has  dwarfed  pulpits, 
depopulated  churches,  and  will  continue  to  depopu- 
late them  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  insisted  on.  A 
man's  old  clothes  are  not  the  man;  last  year's  alma- 


280  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

nac  is  out  of  <J;ite  this  year;  the  implements  of  hus- 
bandry that  raise  the  wheat,  anil  the  stubble  left  in 
the  field,  are  not  the  bread  of  life. 

I  M>d  made  the  human  soul  for  truth  :  and  although 
the  soul  may  not  full)'  understand  the  cheat  and  jug- 
glery, there  is  yet  something  in  man  that  will  rise  up 
in  some  sixteenth  and  nineteenth  century,  and  utter 
the  grand  protest  of  instinct  and  inspiration  against 
the  cheat.  This  very  truth-instinct  has  been  the 
ground  of  all  the  heaving  protests  and  all  the  reac- 
tions in  the  world  —  the  swinging  of  the  pendulum 
to  and  fro  in  the  movements  of  mind  and  history. 
From  such  an  assumed,  authoritative  deliverance  of 
Christianity,  carved  out  of  the  mere  perishable  aspects 
of  it,  a  substitution  of  phenomena  in  the  place  of  per- 
sistent life  or  the  essential  spirit  and  true  principle  of 
the  thing,  comes  delusion  and  corruption.  Of  course 
there  must  be  revolts.  And  heaven  itself  is  becom- 
ing populated  from  the  so-called  infidels  who  make 
u,)  this  army  of  dis^e_nlieiits  —  and  from  heretics  like 
Paul  and  sceptics  like  Luther. 

So  that  we  are  obliged  in  all  this  push  and  pull  of 
matters  just  to  fall  back  upon  the  grand  words  of 
that  old  Pharisee  —  Gamaliel  —  for  there  was  more 
light  in  the  sunset  of  the  old  dispensation  than  in  all 
these  will-o'-the-wisps  we  have  been  speaking  of 
around  the  swamps  of  the  Christian  ages:  "  If  this 
counsel  and  this  work  be  of  man,  it  will  come  to 
naught ;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it." 
And  there  every  soul  may  stand  secure.  You  may 
as  well  battle  the  advance  of  the  stars  as  battle  any 


ME  DDL  ING   WITH  PR  O  J  TDENCE.  2  8 1 

truth  of  God.  It  is  only  the  man-part  that  is  shifting 
and  vanishing;  the  mere  human  aspect  of  the  sub- 
ject; the  crude,  imperfect  instrumentalities;  the  early 
drapery  and  perishable  phenomena.  These  will  come 
to  naught;  these  will  pass  away.  And  he  who  insists 
upon  making  a  definition  of  Christianity  out  of  them,' 
makes  it  of  fiction,  of  the  dust  of  the  tombs.  He  who 
would  build  the  everlasting  kingdom  upon  such 
foundation,  builds  upon  sand ;  and  the  storm  is  on 
the  way  that  indeed  shall  overthrow  it.  While  what 
God  builds  shall  rise,  more  and  more  resplendent 
without  end. 

Still  men  cry,  peril !  danger !  Not  a  thousand 
years  ago,  in  civilized  England,  the  inventor  of 
umbrellas  was  stigmatized  as  an  infidel  for  inter- 
rupting the  designs  of  Providence  with  regard  to 
rainy  weather ;  for  when  the  showers  fell  it  was 
evident  God  meant  that  men  should  get  wet.  Not 
long  since  the  self-constituted  censorship  of  godli- 
ness stigmatized  the  scientific  man  as  an  infidel, 
who  brought  that  balm  and  God-gift  into  the  world, 
Anesthetics.  By  the  aid  of  this,  the  most  violent 
surgical  operation  can  be  performed,  while  pain 
is  banished  into  dream-land.  The  design  of  Provi- 
dence is,  it  was  claimed,  that  if  a  man's  limb  must 
be  amputated,  it  should  ache  ;  and  the  inventor  frus- 
trated that  design. 

Why,  within  our  memory  also,  the  introduction 
of  the  practice  of  vaccination  to  prevent  such  pesti- 
lences as  ravage  whole  communities,  was  stigmatized 

as  the  work  of  the  devil ;  because  disease  is,  by  its 
24  * 


282  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES, 

nature,  made  contagious  by  God,  and  man  should 
not  interfere  with  God's  doings.  The  plagues  of  the 
Old  World  came  under  the  same  handling;  and  the 
men  who  sought  to  stay  them,  and  stop  them  en- 
tirely, were  charged  with  infidelity.  It  was  a  med- 
dling with  Providence.  That  kind  of  logic  has 
always  existed  in  the  world  ;  it  exists  still.  Thou- 
sands of  men  and  women,  conscientious  and  amiable, 
but  not  reliable  in  stress  of  weather,  have  wrapped 
themselves  in  their  superstitions  and  hid  themselves 
when  fear  came;  and  still  they  hide. 

Also,  because  of  this  very  thing,  many  seek  to 
work  a  kind  of  contraband  trade.  In  times  of  trial, 
when  the  chaff  is  sifted  from  the  wheat  and  driven 
away  by  the  winds,  they  speculate  in  ignorance  and 
superstition.  When  the  fire  rages  and  all  things  are 
perturbed,  then  they  run  up  false  flags,  attempting  to 
make  grand  gains;  if  not  in  cotton,  as  in  war  times, 
then  in  sectarianism  always  belligerent.  They  run 
up  these  flags  or  devices  for  the  capture  of  wandering 
life  and  unsuspecting  virtue  on  the  seas.  You  do 
not  wonder,  then,  that  men  observing  these  things, 
raise  the  question  as  to  what,  after  all,  there  is  in 
Christianity  to  boast  of;  whether  there  is  anything 
of  real  value  in  it  at  all. 

To  that  question  I  am  glad  to  reply  for  one,  by 
stating  facts — simply  fads.  Mere  is  a  power  that 
has  stood  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  phenomenally, 
technically  announced,  in  Providence.  It  has  stood 
forever  and  forever  in  the  essence  and  significance 
of  the  thing  itself.     But  as  it  has  stood  the  vicissi- 


THE  GRANDEST  CIVILIZATION.  283 

tudcs  and  fortunes  of  human  life  thus  far,  and  is 
stronger  to-day  than  ever,  this  fact  is  a  witness  for 
it.  I  know  it  does  not  command  the  suffrage  of  a 
majority  of  mankind  ;  but  when  you  see  what  it  has 
done  while  yet  in  its  youth,  compared  with  the  hoary 
age  of  some  other  religions,  there  is  a  fact,  and  quite 
enough  for  you. 

And  here  is  another  fact.  You  will  find  that 
Christianity  is  allied  with  the  strongest  nations  of 
the  earth.  Wherever  there  is  the  most  cultivated 
brain,  the  grandest  civilization  under  law,  and  the 
noblest  uplifting  of  man,  there  you  will  find  the 
Christian  religion.     This  is  an  additional  fact. 

As  you  interpret  it,  basing  its  certitudes  not  upon 
phenomena,  but  upon  essence,  upon  spirit,  upon  en- 
during principles,  you  will  find  that  the  very  heart- 
throb of  Christianity,  its  deepest  life  and  inspiration, 
are  in  harmony  with  the  heart-throb  of  the  consti- 
tution of  Nature.  Well  might  the  old  Pharisee  say, 
though  he  did  not  fully  comprehend  his  own  grand 
words,  "  If  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of  man,  it 
will  come  to  naught;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot 
overthrow  it."  Just  so  far  as  these  profound  theses 
of  the  Christian  religion  strike  hands  with  the  theses 
and  laws  of  God  in  creation,  it  cannot  be  overthrown. 
Though  heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  it  will  stand. 
And  if  all  we  often  say  shall  prove  true  at  last, 
namely,  that  there  is  another  world,  another  order 
and  dynasty  of  existence,  then  even  that  grander 
scale  and  order  may  give  place  to  a  still  higher,  and 
yet  Christian  truth  endure. 


284  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

Another  grand  fact  is:  Not  only  does  Christianity 

accord  with  the  "constitution  and  course  of  nature" 
in  the  material  world,  but  she  accords  better  than 
any  other  religion  with  the  constitution  of  human 
nature,  with  the  soul  of  man  and  the  law  of  his 
being.  So  that  when  we  shall  see  all  these  grand 
chords  striking  from  within  and  without,  when 
world  answers  to  world,  when  the  whole  tide  of 
national  progress,  the  triumphs  of  reason,  the  vic- 
tories of  science,  and  the  grander  prophecies  of 
intuition  and  instinct,  all  wave  aloft  their  signs  of 
fraternal  greeting,  we  need  not  be  much  alarmed  or 
troubled  that  we  are  in  this  great  enterprise,  and 
that  we  strike  hands  with  such  fellowships  and  such 
certitudes.  We  may  be  peaceful  ;  we  may  be  power- 
ful. And  as  the  mere  phenomenal  aspect  is  brushed 
away,  as  the  scaffolding  shall  be  taken  down  stage 
after  stage,  and  the  mystic  hieroglyphics  interpreted, 
you  will  see  that  the  mighty  destiny  of  Christianity 
is  in  the  nature  of  things — just  where  we  have 
always  put  it ;  and  that  her  glory  towers  up  more 
majestic  than  temples  made  with  hands,  beyond 
phenomena,  beyond  time,  to  be  eternal  in  the  heav- 
ens. It  is  mightier  than  man,  and  man  shall  not 
prevail  against  it.  It  is  wiser  than  man,  so  no  genius 
of  evil  shall  circumvent  it. 

I  will  tell  you  some  real  ugly  foes  to  Christianity 
as  well  as  to  all  truth  ;  foes  to  light,  foes  to  purity, 
foes  to  righteousness.  Ignorance  is  one.  Men  are 
not  always  to  be  blamed  for  their  ignorance,  but  it 
is  always   to  be  lamented.     It   is   never  a  helping 


HYPOCRISY,  BIGOTRY,  INDOLENCE.  285 

hand  to  truth.  Hypocrisy  is  another.  The  gentle 
Nazarene,  full  of  the  fragrance  of  heaven,  uttered  no 
violent  word  save  in  one  instance ;  and  that  was 
against  hypocrisy,  the  masked  presence  that  men 
act  behind.  Another  is  Bigotry.  Bigotry  —  it  is 
the  whole  man  put  into  a  Chinese  slipper  and  kept 
there.  It  is  a  stint  and  stench  upon  the  human 
name  that  makes  man  unpresentable  wherever  there 
is  light,  liberty  or  nobleness.  Another  real  foe  is 
Guile.  Deceit  is  a  liar;  trickery  is  a  pious  fraud  — 
secret,  polished,  vulgar,  snake-like,  hidden  away  and 
hissing  out  of  darkness,  ashamed  of  its  own  tongue 
and  face  and  heart.  If  it  has  never  been  canonized, 
it  certainly  has  been  the  chronic  plague  of  religion. 
Another  ugly  foe  to  Christianity  is  Indolence — apt 
to  be  coupled  with  ignorance,  when  it  constitutes 
that  contentment  which  says,  "  I  don't  want  to  know 
any  more  than  I  do ;  I  would  rather  rest  in  things 
as  they  have  been  made  to  my  hand,  whether  right 
or  wrong,  than  take  the  trouble  of  investio-atincr 
and  making  wrong  right."  Such  indolence  would 
sooner  ship  on  board  some  old  leaky,  rickety  craft, 
than  pay  the  necessary  cost  of  a  safe  transit  on 
reliable  bottoms  —  using  the  logic  that  thousands 
had  gone  over  safely  before.  But  indolence  forgets 
that  the  worm  has  been  at  work  ever  since,  and  that 
it  is  time  for  that  which  is  worn  out  to  be  "  folded 
away."  Navigation,  however,  lives  and  commerce 
lives  ;  seas  are  spanned  and  continents  are  traversed — 
and  will  be  more  and  more,  though  all  the  earlier 
rafts  and  hulks  go  to  the  bottom,  and  the  footman 
and  postilion  are  heard  of  no  more. 


286  CHRISTIANITY  AND  HER  FOES. 

Greed  of  power  is  another  ugly  enemy  to  a  live 
Christianity;  tyranny,  despotism ;  the  enthroning  of 
one  man  over  the  brain  and  conscience  of  another; 
the  demand  of  worship  paid  to  man  instead  of  God  ; 
taking  leave  and  authority  from  a  poor  frail  mortal, 
less  respectable  even  than  the  suppliant,  instead  of 
acknowledging  the  Father  in  heaven  alone.  All 
these  are  enemies,  and  it  were  high  time  they  were 
banished,  having  a  name  in  the  world  only  by  the 
leave  of  memory  and  history. 

We  pause  then  in  our  review  upon  just  this:  He 
who  hath  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  christly  ;  he  who 
hath  the  spirit  of  God  is  godly ;  he  who  hath  the 
thought  of  God  inwardly,  is  so  far  reconciled  to 
Him.  The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
the  Gospel  of  God,  against  the  Christian  religion,  so 
sure  as  the  fundamental  truths  thereof  were  born 
from  the  brain  and  heart  of  the  Most  High. 

And  you,  O  soul,  so  far  as  you  have  the  spirit  of 
that  Gospel  instead  of  the  letter,  will  stand  Just  in 
proportion  as  you  carve  your  thought  and  definition 
of  Christianity  out  of  the  heart  and  thoughts  of  the 
Almighty,  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
you. 

This  whole  matter  is  undergoing  a  rehandling; 
man  himself  is  undergoing  a  readjustment  as  to  it. 
Story  after  story  of  ancient  scaffoldings  arc  coming 
down;  higher  ones  are  thrown  up;  and  the  building 
steadily  rises.  Some  think  they  can  see  its  dome 
already  glittering  among  the  clouds.  Have  some- 
thing, O  soul,  to  put  into  that  immortal  edifice.  Do 
not  stake  your  all  in  the  mere  scaffolding. 


THE   VICTORS  AXD  HARPERS.  287 

Then,  when  the  bells  shall  be  ringing  for  the 
great  convocation,  when  the  grand  orchestra  shall 
be  breaking  out  up  there,  your  voice  will  not  be 
missing ;  you  will  be  among  the  victors  and  harpers. 
Though  the  storm  rages  to-day,  and  though  the  drift 
of  time  goes  down-stream,  in  patience,  in  grand  con- 
fidence and  steadfastness,  possess  your  soul. 


XIX. 

PERSONAL  RIGHTEOUSNESS—  THE  RELIGION 
OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

1  'erify  I  say  unto  you,  among  them  that 
are  born  of  women  there  hath  not 
risen  a  greater  than  John  the  Tap- 
tist.  —  Matthew  xi.  II. 

THAT  is  high  testimony  standing  in  exactly  the 
words  of  Christ  Himself.  And  yet  it  is  added : 
"  The  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater 
than  he." 

This  greatest  born  in  time  is  designated  as  the 
herald  Preacher,  the  Harbinger  of  the  New  Dispen- 
sation ;  the  Forerunner  of  Christ. 

First  we  find  him  upon  the  banks  of  the  old  his- 
toric river,  the  Jordan,  preaching  to  the  multitudes, 
and  baptizing  them  in  its  waters.  Prophecy  for 
centuries  had  been  foretelling  a  Voice  crying  in  the 
wilderness  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord  ;  "  and 
when  this  ancient  utterance  broke  from  the  lips  of 
the  grim,  austere  prophet  of  the  hour,  prefaced  by 
the  words  "  I  am  he,"  it  was  not  strange  that  omens 
should  have  attended  his  birth. 

From  childhood,  in  which  he  was  said  to  have 
been  "full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  years  passed  on — 
even  a  generation  —  during  which  he  knew  naught 
of  the  world  but  his  desert  life.  There  the  plastic 
wonder  of  early  years  felt  the  moulding  touch  of  the 

288 


KEY-NOTE  OF  JOHN'S  PREAC1HNG.  289 

rude  aspects  around  him.  He  became  familiar  with 
crag  and  den  and  wild  beast;  he  communed  with 
the  stately  stillness  of  mountains,  the  solitude  of  the 
wilderness  and  the  silence  of  the  desert  sea.  These 
were  his  tutors ;  these  were  God's  fountains  of  inspi- 
ration and  power. 

In  the  fullness  of  his  time  he  suddenly  appeared  on 
the  stage  of  the  living  world,  and,  like  a  thunder- 
clap from  the  still  sky,  broke  upon  men  with  the 
startling  word,  Repent !  This  was  the  keynote  of  his 
mission.  His  hour  had  come,  and  he  was  ready  for 
his  work. 

Thence  ensued  the  meeting  with  Christ,  the  bap- 
tism of  the  "  Greater  "  at  the  hands  of  the  less  ;  and 
from  that  august  moment  in  which  the  Old  was 
handed  over  to  the  New,  and  the  desert  passed  into 
the  garden,  the  former  began  to  "  decrease,"  and  the 
latter  to  "  increase." 

This  was  at  a  marked  period  of  the  world;  a  time 
of  great  commotion,  distraction  and  drifting  un- 
certainty. The  Roman  tread  was  everywhere,  and 
everywhere  hated.  Formalism  reigned,  and  had 
become  a  weariness  to  patience  and  a  drag  on  the 
better  nature  of  man.  No  voice  of  living  prophecy 
had  been  heard  for  well-nigh  five  hundred  years ; 
hope  was  low  and  heart  was  heavy  and  life  at  stag- 
nant ebb.  Well  might  the  word,  Repent !  startle  and 
thrill  the  world's  dull  hour. 

But   in   such   Divine  words  of  life-giving  energy 

there  is  not  only  hope  but  battle.     The  end  of  the 

herald  preacher  was  not  a  crown,  but  a  prison  and 
25  T 


29O       RELIGION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

the    official    act  of  the  executioner.     The   dissolute 
life  of  Herod  felt  the  fire  of  the  words  of  truth,  and 
his  wrath  was  kindled.     The  character  and  life  of  the 
corrupt  tyrant  could  not  bear  the  searching  scrutiny 
of  the  Baptist's  morality,  and  vengeance  determined 
on  his  destruction.      Had  John  the  Baptist  preached 
the  old  forms  and  ceremonies  of  bygone  ages,  the 
outlived  notions  of  Moses  and  the  patriarchs  about 
herbs,  meats,  pots,  pitchers,  cups  and  phylacteries, 
his  head  had  been  safe  enough.     Herod  could  have 
danced  with  Herodius  or  her  daughter,  and  been  as 
pious  as  anybody.     But,  Repent!  "it  is  not  lawful 
that  thou   shouldst  have  her,"  was  a  scandal  to  his 
'"faith."     Salvation   by   a   religion    that    leaves   out 
morality,  is  not  peculiar  to  modern  times.     This  was 
the  sunken  snag  along  the  channel  of  the  new  river 
of  life,  against  which  the  divinely-freighted  argosy 
of  John  the  Baptist  struck  and  went  down  —  for  the 
hour.     The  hulk  perished,  but  the  cargo  was  a  Divine 
seed,  that  floated  upon  the  waters,  and  is  giving  bread 
to  the  world  after  these  "  many  days." 

John  was  not  the  Christ,  but  his  usher;  the  one 
the  acorn,  the  other  the  oak;  the  one  the  morning 
twilisrht.  the  other  the  risen  sun  ;  the  one  the  vernal 
seed-time,  the  other  the  summer  growth  and  the 
autumn  harvest. 

The  next  day  after  the  Jordan  meeting,  these  two, 
the  Herald  and  the  Heralded,  parted  —  never  to 
meet  again.  The  Old  gave  its  hand  to  the  New,  and 
the  New  answered  back  in  hearty  grasp.  The  one 
abdicated,  the  other  acceded.     The  latent  germ   of 


HAD  SOMETHING  TO  SAY.  29 1 

ages  had  blossomed  out  into  the  summer  of  the  great 
Divine  Year,  and  henceforth  this  was  to  "  increase," 
and  that  to  "  decrease."  Retreating,  retreating, 
fading,  vanishing,  rolls  back  the  glory  that  has 
been  ;  while  that  which  is  to  be,  is  towering,  ad- 
vancing, culminating  in  splendor  and  power,  as  the 
ages  unfold  their  drama.  Roman  dungeons  are 
strong ;  tyrants  and  bigots  have  been  mighty  in  the 
earth  ;  but  bigots  and  tyrants  and  assassins  in  the 
name  of  God,  have  seen  their  brightest  day;  for 
truth  rolls  on,  mighty  as  God  Himself,  and  her  chariot 
bears  the  victors. 

No  greater  born  of  woman !  Wherein  lies  the 
pre-eminence? 

1.  The  preacher  had  something  to  say.  He  was 
charged  with  a  message ;  and,  like  Paul  after  him, 
"  Woe  is  me,  if  I  speak  not."  John  was  no  "  re- 
peater; "  no  reciter  of  old  paradigms;  no  retailer  of 
venerable  hearsays  already  well  enough  known.  He 
had  something  of  his  own  to  say,  fresh  and  living, 
given  to  him  by  God.  This  gave  him  a  right  to  say 
it ;  nay,  was  a  necessity  laid  upon  him.  This  gives 
any  man  a  right ;  and  it  is  all  the  right  of  his  com- 
mission to  speak  at  all. 

2.  He  knew  what  it  was  he  was  to  speak  —  the 
grounds  of  it  and  the  reason  for  it.  He  had  pon- 
dered it  in  solitude;  he  had  communed  with  it  on 
the  heights  of  silence  and  inspiration.  His  con- 
ceptions were  clear,  his  purposes  distinct,  his  con- 
victions profound,  his  object  definite,  his  ultimate 
designs  comprehensive. 


292       RELIGION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

j.  I  [is  thought  was  in  advance  of  his  time.  This 
panoplied  him  as  well  as  imperiled  him.  Because 
he  thought  and  spoke  for  ages  to  come,  he  found 
himself  out  of  harmony  with  the  average  thought 
of  his  time,  as  well  as  under  its  ban.  But  herein  he 
was  strong,  also  ;  and  without  this  striking  ahead,  no 
man  advances.  His  words  thrilled  with  inspiration 
from  ages  unborn.  By  underground  wires  he  was 
in  communication  with  eras  and  evolutions  that  had 
not  been  bulletined  along  the  accustomed  ways  of 
nun.  I  Ience  his  fitness  as  a  herald.  Thus  histories 
are  summed  up  in  single  lives  in  advance. 

4.  This*  man  was  fired  with  a  deathless  enthusiasm. 
This  fire  was  born  in  him  ;  it  was  fanned  in  his  desert 
life;  it  glowed  by  the  Jordan;  it  flamed  among  the 
people ;  it  waxed  before  Herod ;  it  quailed  not  in 
felon's  dungeon ;  it  is  a  glory  and  consuming  power 
to-day.  No  life  can  be  above  stale  mediocrity  with- 
out this  inward  glow  and  passion  called  enthusi- 
asm. Kindled  from  truth  and  eternal  principles,  it 
is  "God  in  us."  It  is  the  root  of  all  heroism;  it 
made  the  herald  preacher  daring  unto  death. 

5.  This  nourished  the  root  of  unflinching  fidelity; 
it  bred  the  passion  of  unapproachable  loyalty;  it 
consecrated  the  law  of  his  mission  as  his  only  law ; 
it  made  him  able  to  take  all  consequences  ;  and  in 
the  fires  of  death  to  link  truth  to  immortal  life.  So 
he  was  surpassingly  great  in  the  world,  peerless 
among  those  born  of  women. 

The  application  of  the  ethical  element  in  Chris- 
tianity to   human  life  and  character  is  the  key-note 


JOHN  AND  JESUS  IN  ACCORD.  293 

of  the  Dispensation.  Repent !  reform  !  are  the  words 
that  introduced  it ;  and  as  was  the  key,  so  is  the 
song.  Christianity  may  be  preached  as  a  theory  or 
a  rite,  and  trouble  nobody ;  but  Christianity  preached 
as  repentance  and  reformation,  never  failed  to  stir  up 
the  Herods  of  life ;  and  never  will.  Life  and  charac- 
ter like  to  be  unmolested.  Men  are  prone  to  rely 
upon  outside  saviors  as  their  substitute,  making 
theories  and  beliefs  responsible  for  all  their  short- 
comings. Had  John  the  Baptist  preached  this  way, 
all  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  and  Tetrarchs  and 
Judges  in  Judea  would  have  flocked  around  him. 
There  would  have  been  no  execution,  no  prisons,  no 
grumbling.  Had  Christ  preached  thus,  there  had 
been  no  cross  and  no  victim.  John  and  Jesus 
are  one;  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  "Repent!  " 
"  Woe  unto  you  Scribes  and  Pharisees,"  and  "  who 
hath  warned  you,"  are  one  gospel  from  two  preachers, 
the  Herald  and  the  Heralded.  Personal  righteous- 
ness is  the  religion  of  the  New  Testament.  Substi- 
tutions were  learned  from  neither  Jesus  nor  John. 

But  is  the  prison  a  finality?  Is  the  Harbinger 
really  dead?  Christ  comes  the  fulfillment  of  John  ; 
to-day  is  the  fulfillment  of  Christ ;  and  to-morrow 
will  be  the  fulfillment  of  to-day.  The  seed  away 
back  in  the  beginning,  blossoms  and  fruits  all  along 
the  fields  of  the  future.  Religion,  so  far  as  it  has 
any  fitness  to  man,  is  designed  to  make  the  world 
better,  nobler,  truer,  purer.  Aside  from  this  result, 
Christianity   is   no   better  than   any   other  religion. 

Because  of  the  laying  of  the  hand  directly  upon  life 
25* 


2Q4        RELIGION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

and  character,  tyrants  have  hated  its  power,  and 
" substitutionists "  have  disparaged  its  morality.  The 
Christs  and  the  Gods  that  men  have  made,  have  been 
praised  and  worshipped  and  believed  in  and  trusted 
vastly  more,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  than  the  one 
God  of  Christ,  and  the  one  Christ  of  God.  Who 
shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord?  was  the 
Oriental  cry.  "  He  that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure 
heart,"  was  the  Divine  answer.  And  men  who  have 
said  it  ever  since  have  been  stoned. 

The  herald  Preacher  fell ;  the  heralded  Preacher 
fell ;  they  both  went  down  ;  but  the  fall  of  both  was 
for  the  rising  of  many.  The  acorn  perishes  ;  the  oak 
lives  for  evermore.  The  planters  are  for  the  endless 
to-morrow.  Truth  is  God's  presence  ever  breaking, 
ever  rending  old  limitations,  bursting  the  husk  in 
which  it  was  planted  —  the  prisons  which  hold  it  for 
a  time.  Around  the  silence  of  the  tombs  where  the 
valiant  sleep,  crowns  are  shaping,  and  amaranths  put 
forth  the  bud  whose  bloom  shall  never  fade.  Beneath 
old  battle-fields,  silent  now  forever,  but  over  which 
tyranny  and  bigotry  and  vice  once  drove  their 
triumphant  chariots,  songs  of  truth,  purity,  fortitude 
and  love  are  now  writing  their  scores  for  the  final 
jubilee. 

Be  a  herald  then,  O  soul !  —  a  herald  of  truth.  Be 
a  harbinger  of  a  New  Dispensation,  and  stand  forth 
as  the  prophet  of  something  better  —  vastly  better 
than  anything  that  ever  has  been.  The  conflict  shall 
more  and  more  be  behind  you  ;  the  jar  and  the  tumult 
and  the  carnage  thereof,  shall  retreat  into  deeper  and 


BE  HERALDS  OF  THE  COMING  DA  Y.  295 

deeper  silence;  while  the  glory  shall  loom  up  before 
you,  waxing  and  rising  in  power  and  divineness. 

For  the  stress  of  patience  and  the  valor  of  truth, 
there  are  always  fadeless  garlands  ;  for  enthusiasm 
that  is  of  God,  and  heroism  born  from  beyond  the 
fight,  there  are  altars  more  than  priestly,  and  crowns 
more  than  kingly.  Manhood  is  royaler  than  scep- 
tres ;  Womanhood,  diviner  than  shrines  or  lustral 
waters.  Beyond  the  dim  haze  that  veils  it  now,  in 
golden  light  and  beneath  skies  of  pearl  there  sleeps 
a  Coronation  Day  for  both. 

Is  there  aught  greater  or  grander  in  life  than  to  be 
Heralds  and  Harbingers  of  that  Day  ? 


XX. 

A  COMPARISON  BETWEEN  THE  OLD  DISPENSA- 
TION AND  THE  NEW. 

From  that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach  and 
to  say,  Repent  t  for  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  at  hand.  —  Matthew  iv.  17. 

^T^HIS  is  designed  to  follow  the  sermon  of  last 
1.  Sunday  morning,  as  the  summer  follows  the 
spring.  That  gave  religion  as  it  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  Herald  Preacher;  this,  as  from  the  lips  of  Him 
whom  the  Herald  introduced. 

"  From  that  time  began  Jesus  to  preach  and  to  say, 
Repent !"  that  is,  after  the  time  of  preparation.  As 
the  Forerunner  went  into  the  desert  by  way  of  com- 
munion, thought,  finding  out  where  he  was,  what  he 
was  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  and  then  came  forth  and 
spake ;  so  Christ  retreated  from  the  early  hours  of 
childhood,  from  the  haunts  of  the  people,  from  the 
usages  of  his  nation,  into  obscurity.  Even  after  his 
announcement  by  John  the  Baptist,  He  went  into 
the  wilderness  Himself — into  the  desert  —  and  there 
passed  through  an  experimental  preparation  which 
is  characterized  in  the  New  Testament  as  the  "  Temp- 
tation." It  means  trial,  simply ;  that  is  what  the 
word  generally  signifies  in  the  New  Testament. 
Paul  says:  "Count  it  all  joy  when  you  fall  into 
diverse  temptations  "  — trials,  tests  and  proofs  of  our- 

296 


REPENTANCE.  297 

selves.  After  "that  time"  came  forth  Jesus,  and  be- 
gan to  preach  and  say,  "Repent/"  taking  the  same 
text,  taking  up  the  very  seed  of  his  dispensation 
from  the  dispensation  of  John.  Scarcely  had  the 
voice  of  the  Harbinger  died  away,  ere  its  resonant 
echo  awoke  as  from  behind  the  mountains,  breaking 
in  more  incisive  accent  upon  the  listening  world 
around.  Repent /  was  the  summons  as  if  from  the 
trumpet-lip  of  God.  John  and  Christ  preach  one 
gospel. 

If  you  will  notice,  just  a  moment,  this  word  repent 
is  compounded  of  a  double  significance.  It  looks 
backward  and  it  looks  forward.  It  signifies,  first, 
Drop  the  sins  of  old  and  accept  the  pevna,  the  re- 
pcena  or  punishment  —  the  root-meaning  of  which  is 
to  fine  oneself,  to  tax,  to  mulct.  This  repentance  is 
a  powerful  self-crimination,  an  acknowledged  retri- 
bution. Then,  secondly,  the  meaning  looks  ahead; 
it  is  Reformation,  the  bringing  forth  of  fruits  meet  for 
repentance.  First,  get  clear  of  the  old  difficulties 
and  thralls  of  the  past;  then,  go  on  and  do  the 
proper  work  of  life  and  man ;  build  up,  reconstruct, 
rear  the  grand  temple  of  which  your  very  nature  is 
the  material  —  under  a  high,  divine  architecture, 
indeed,  of  which  God  Himself  is  the  inspiration  and 
the  scheme. 

After  that  primal  announcement  of  Christ,  we  find 
Him  immediately  doing  —  what?  Preaching  that 
grand  inaugural  discourse,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
There  He  begins  to  expand  his  mission  introduced  by 
the  Forerunner.     He  opens  in  those  Beatitudes,  so 


298        THE  OLD  AND  NEW  DISPENSATIONS. 

full  of  beaut)-  and  divineness  :  "  Blessed  are  they 
that  mourn;  for  they  shall  be  comforted.  Bles 
are  the  meek ;  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth. 
Blessed  are  they  that  do  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness;  for  they  shall  be  filled.  Blessed  are 
the  merciful  ;  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy."  These 
are  gentle  words.  How  different  from  the  old,  iron, 
brassy  clang  of  the  law !  "  Blessed  are  the  peace- 
makers; for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God. 
Blessed  are  they  who  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ness' sake ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you  and  perse- 
cute you  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you 
falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice  and  be  exceeding 
glad ;  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven  ;  for  so 
persecuted  they  the  prophets  who  were  before 
you." 

After  this  opening,  the  Sermon  goes  on  with  these 
sharp  discriminations  between  the  Old  Dispensation 
and  the  New,  so  emphatic  and  searching:  "Ye  have 
heard  it  said  of  old,  thou  shalt  not  kill ;  but  I  of  the 
new  say,  he  that  is  angry  with  his  brother,  hath  the 
kill  in  his  heart.  Ye  have  heard  of  old,  thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  and  hate  thine  enemy ;  but  I  say, 
love  thine  enemy,  and  thy  persecutor,  and  thy  ma- 
ligner.  Ye  have  heard  of  old,  thou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery;  but  I  say  the  glance  of  the  eye,  and 
the  pulse  of  the  heart,  are  an  infraction  of  my  law. 
When  thou  doest  thine  alms,  act  not  as  the  hypo- 
crites do  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  sound- 
ing a  trumpet  that  they  may  be  heard  of  men.     But 


GOSPEL   TRUTHS  HEART-SEARCHING.     "  299 

let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand 
doeth ;  and  thy  Father  who  seeth  in  secret,  shall  re- 
ward thee  openly.  When  thou  prayest,  be  not  like 
the  old  prayers  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  and  in 
the  synagogues,  whose  chief  desire  is  to  be  seen  and 
heard  of  men.  But  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when 
thou  hast  shut  the  door,  pray ;  and  thy  Father  who 
seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly.  Judge  not, 
lest  ye  be  judged  —  and  have  measured  to  you  that 
which  ye  measure  to  others.  Ye  have  heard  of  old, 
an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  ;  but  I  say, 
a  cheek  for  a  cheek,  and  a  cloak  for  a  cloak,  rather 
than  retaliation  in  the  spirit  of  revenge.  Why  be- 
holdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye  ? 
Thou  hypocrite  !  Cast  out  the  beam  from  thine  own 
eye,  and  thou  shalt  better  see  the  mote  in  thy  neigh- 
bor's eye." 

By  their  fruits  men  are  to  be  known,  and  not  by 
their  professions.  "Lord!  Lord !"  never  saves  ;  but 
a  cup  of  cold  water  may  ;  and  a  visit  to  the  sick  and 
imprisoned  likewise.  He  that  heareth  these  say- 
ings of  mine  and  docth  them,  shall  live. 

Having  preached  this  Inaugural  Sermon,  the  foun- 
dation of  his  whole  Gospel  and  Dispensation,  we  be- 
hold Christ  passing  into  practical  life,  doing  the  work 
of  the  Christian ;  doing  what  shall  stand  as  the  ex- 
emplification of  what  all  men  are  to  do,  who  would 
be  his  disciples ;  works  of  charity,  mercy,  instruc- 
tion, purification  ;  works  of  reformation  ;  works  of 
redeeming  men  from  the  grasp  of  evil,  of  lifting  them 
from  the  sod  of  degradation  to  the  crown  God  poises 


300        THE  ('//>  AND  NEW  DISPENSATIONS. 

evermore  above  every  man's  brow;  until  finally  we 
come  to  the  end,  the  tragic  end,  the  test  end,  or  finish 
of  a  life  that  knew  no  blight  —  no  failure. 

Thus  we  perceive  a  fourfold  order  of  movement. 
First,  a  quitting  of  all  wrong  in  the  past ;  "cease  to 
do  evil."  Secondly,  reconstruction;  a  going  for- 
ward, a  building  up,  growing,  "  learning  to  do  well.'' 
Thirdly,  "  Marvel  not  that  I  say  unto  you,  ye  must 
be  born  again  ;  "  inspired,  ingrafted,  touched,  exalted 
and  lifted  by  grander  forces  than  any  in  you.  We 
cannot  dwell  on  Regeneration  here;  it  will  come  up 
at  another  time.  In  the  fourth  place,  you  come  to 
the  finish  of  the  man,  as  Christ  came  to  his  own 
finish  ;  that  is,  maturity  without  blight ;  continuing 
unto  the  end  ;  making  not  failure  but  success,  even 
to  the  losing  of  life  for  the  sake  of  finding  it. 

Of  course,  all  this  was  terrible  to  Jewish  ears.  It 
was  astonishing,  perplexing,  bewildering.  And  I 
don't  wonder  ;  it  was  entirely  natural,  and  not  wrong 
in  all  respects.  For  who  were  these  men  ?  The 
favored  of  God;  the  specialised  of  all  mankind  for 
Divine  preference,  to  whose  hands  the  world  were 
to  look  for  every  crumb  of  comfort  and  every  staff 
of  help.  Were  not  they  saved?  Had  they  not  the 
Oracles?  Were  they  not  of  the  Fathers,  the  conse- 
crated, who  received  the  promise,  and  who  bestowed 
gifts  upon  all  posterity?  Said  they,  "Have  we  not, 
in  the  great  family  of  God,  the  rights  of  primogeni- 
ture ?     Are  we  not  alone  the  elect  ?  " 

Then,  look  at  the  expectation  of  Israel,  dreaming 
of  a  Messianic  reign,  of  a  mighty  Comer,  a  conqueror 


A  NEW  IDEA  OF  RELIGION.  3OI 

that  should  wipe  out  shame  and  disaster  from  memory 
even,  and  scepter  them  with  rightful  sway  over  the 
whole  earth.  But  the  reputed  Messiah  came  speak- 
ing, not  words  of  royalty,  conquest  and  dominion, 
but  Repent  /  casting  aside  all  pomp  and  outward 
glitter  as  a  mere  bauble.  The  boasted  glory  of 
nation,  the  sacredness  of  altar,  the  pride  of  temple 
and  holiness  of  priest,  all  went  for  nothing.  This 
new  gospel,  ringing  out,  Repent!  continually,  as  if 
all  the  past  were  only  dream,  or  evil!  —  trust  and 
confidence  were  confounded  by  it. 

But  not  less  terrible  was  it  to  the  Gentile  world, 
filled  with  pride  —  pride  of  learning,  philosophy, 
science,  art,  and  full  of  license. 

Those  things,  I  say,  were  not  wrong  always.  We 
don't  wonder  men  were  startled.  Their  idea  of  re- 
ligion was  far  different.  With  them  it  was  a  thing 
of  institutions,  of  beliefs,  of  forms  and  ceremonies. 
He  who  kept  every  jot  and  tittle  of  this  externality, 
was  the  man  for  God.  Hence  that  sharp  discrimi- 
nation between  the  Old  and  the  New  in  the  Inaugural 
Sermon.  Ye  have  heard  it  said  so  and  so  ;  but  /say 
so  and  so.  It  was  a  passage  from  the  dominion  of 
sense  to  the  dominion  of  spirit ;  and  it  seemed  sud- 
den, violent,  to  those  locked  in  the  ancient  forms. 
It  was  a  turning  away  from  the  mere  circumstances 
of  the  man,  and  a  fixing  directly  upon  the  matter  in 
hand,  the  man  himself.  "  Men,  I  speak  to,  and  speak 
of,  and  for,"  says  this  new  Teacher.  All  else  is  in- 
different. 

Without  doubt,  this  Dispensation  introduced  by 
26 


302         THE  OLD  AND  NEW  DISPENSATIONS. 

John  the  Baptist  and  carried  on  by  Jesus  Christ, 
involved  the  greatest  Reformation  the  world  ever 
knew.  It  involved  radical,  immutable  principles. 
Not  only  was  it  external  in  form,  but  drastically, 
ultimately  internal  in  fact  and  essence  ;  not  only  local 
and  temporal,  but  universal  in  its  nature  and  purpo 
not  only  individual,  but  the  scope  of  it  included  the 
whole  race.  It  struck  for  broad  generalities.  They 
could  not  be  developed  then,  but  they  were  included 
in  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  new  order.  Not  only 
for  yesterday  and  to-day,  but  for  to-morrow  and  all 
to-morrows  ;  there  was  grandeur  in  the  conception 
and  sweep  of  it.  No  single  act  or  scene,  era  or 
cycle,  could  play  the  Divine  drama.  The  plot  was 
all-inclusive  as  time  —  as  eternity. 

The  system  of  transplanting  in  the  world  of  nature, 
is  a  page  from  her  hidden  wisdom  and  an  illustration 
of  the  early  development  of  the  Christian  religion. 
The  florist,  the  pomologist  and  the  agriculturist 
will  tell  you  that  no  plant  will  do  so  well  left  to  grow 
just  where  its  seed  germinates,  as  it  will  if  taken  up 
and  set  out  —  transplanted.  Then  it  will  throw  out 
new  fibrous  roots,  and  gather  fresh  contributions 
from  external  and  varied  sources,  and  come  to  growth 
and  perfection.  Precisely  so  with  moral  and  intel- 
lectual truths.  Christianity  had  at  once  to  be  eradi- 
cated from  the  seed-bed  where  it  first  sprouted,  and 
to  be  transplanted  into  the  Gentile  life.  It  had  to  be 
transplanted  from  the  whole  Jewish  nation  and  econ- 
omy, into  the  great  universal  Cosmos  or  world-life, 
regardless  of  provincial  limitations  in  any  sense.    Not 


CHRISTIANITY  MUST  HA  VE  ROOM.  303 

until  this  transplanting  do  we  observe  that  Chris- 
tianity began  to  achieve  her  victories.  She  did 
nothing  in  Palestine.  And  Palestine  to-day  is  noth- 
ing but  the  spot  where  she  shook  off  the  dust  of  her 
feet.  She  could  display  no  triumphs  there.  It  is 
just  so  with  the  whole  of  us  who  stick  to  the  old 
beds  where  our  ideas  first  sprouted,  and  refuse  to  be 
transplanted,  or  to  let  in  any  new  ideas,  any  new 
forces  or  contributions  to  our  strength  and  life. 

Christianity  could  not  display  herself  in  the  limited 
cradle  of  her  birth.  She  must  have  a  broad,  bound- 
less theatre  on  which  to  act.  She  cannot  display 
herself  now  entirely.  She  is  under  limitations  to- 
day. She  must  emancipate  herself  from  the  monop- 
oly of  the  church  and  get  out  into  the  world.  Yet 
there  are  those  who  are  always  seeking  to  bind  her 
to  old  restrictions,  to  churches,  customs,  notions, 
confining  her  to  the  primitive  flower-pots  in  which 
she  first  germinated,  throwing  up  walls  and  fences 
around  the  early  gardens  where  she  was  first  planted. 
In  that  way  she  would  perish  were  she  mortal.  She 
must  have  room ;  she  must  be  transplanted  into 
broader,  newer,  higher  conditions,  out  of  her  native 
Palestine,  into  "  all  the  world  "  of  truth  and  life  and 
man. 

There  are  reform-words  breaking  through  the  still 
,air  of  our  life  to-day,  as  startling  as  any  that  ever 
broke  the  slumbers  of  old  Judaism,  falling  from  lip 
of  herald  or  Messiah.  Gongs  of  retribution  are  rend- 
ing the  air  all  around  us  —  if  we  only  had  ears  to 
hear  —  ominous  as  any  that  ever  reverberated  through 


304        THE  ('//>  AND  NEW  DISPENSATIONS. 

the  halls  of  oUl  Athens  or  Rome  or  Babylon  or  Jeru- 
salem. In  the  religious  thinking  of  to-day,  God  and 
his  Christ  are  moving  i  mt  <  >f  the  monopolies  of  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  Sadducees,  Soothsayers  and  Medicine- 
men, into  Man's  Nature  —  into  the  actual  life  of  the 
world.  Why,  pure  religion  is  shaking  from  her 
wings  the  accumulated  dust  and  leaden  clogs  that 
have  held  her  fast;  and  to-day  is  flying  through  the 
air,  crying,  "Repent!  Repent!  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand."  Bigots  and  Pharisees  will  have 
less  leave  to  hide  their  sins  beneath  borrowed  cloaks, 
saying :  "  We  are  more  righteous  than  thou."  Neither 
can  the  children  of  the  world,  always  wiser  than  the 
"  children  of  light,"  derive  any  advantage  merely 
from  the  sagacity  which  sees  through  the  worn-out 
and  rent  garments  of  mere  profession.  No  boasting 
for  either.  For  God  is  breaking  down  the  walls  of 
artificial  partitions  and  distinctions  among  men  ;  He 
is  tearing  off  the  veils  and  shibboleths  from  one  party, 
and  scattering  the  flimsy  excuses  of  the  other.  lie 
is  aiming  directly  at  the  Man  and  the  Woman  per- 
sonally; at  the  measure  of  their  worth,  not  their 
claims.  <God  to-day,  as  never  before,  is  bidding  reli- 
gion seek  the  law  of  man's  life  and  the  core  of  his 
character;  and  by  these  to  abide  in  her  final  adjudi- 
cations. This  is  the  work  of  the  New  Dispensation 
broken  upon  the  world  by  the  Baptist's  word  "  Re- 
pent," taken  up  by  Christ  through  the  same  word, 
and  carried  on  to  this  day.  And  on  it  will  go, 
broader  and  higher,  conquering  and  to  conquer. 
Precisely  this,  which  pealed  out  like  a   trumpet- 


QUEST/OX'S  OF  THE  NEW  DISPENSATION.     305 

blast  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  in  the  ears  of  ancient 
bigotry,  self- righteousness  and  sin,  —  this  thunder- 
tone  of  God  in  the  Christ  of  to-day  —  it  is  this  that 
is  crashing  through  the  Pantheons  of  superstition, 
ignorance  and  idolatry,  and  the  banqueting  halls  of 
corruption,  and  license  and  sin  everywhere.  How- 
clean  is  your  soul,  O  man  of  the  nineteenth  century? 
How  divine  is  thy  life,  how  pure  thy  character,  O 
woman  who  rememberest  the  Mother  of  the  Sacred 
One?  The  washing  of  regeneration,  —  is  it  nothing 
but  a  card  in  the  Sorcerer's  game  ?  Is  the  devil  of 
sin  to  be  cast  out  by  a  sign  ?  Is  the  great  spiritual 
drenching  of  thy  life  something  that  leaves  thy  life 
and  character  untouched  ?  The  myrrh,  the  frankin- 
cense and  the  aloes,  do  they  sprinkle  and  make  fra- 
grant thy  spirit,  O  disciple,  or  are  they  odors  for  thy 
garments  alone  ?  Is  the  sprinkling  all  outside  ?  Is 
the  glory  all  fresco  and  red  paint  ?  These  are  ques- 
tions of  the  New  Dispensation,  not  of  the  Old. 

Alexander  Pope  was  scoffed  at  by  the  self-righteous 
bigots  of  his  time,  because  he  said :  "  An  honest 
man  is  the  noblest  work  of  God."  But  if  I  had 
authority  to  say  it,  I  would  stand  here  and  declare, 
that  the  time  is  coming  when  an  Honest  Man  shall 
be  crowned  Poet  Laureate  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
A  careful  thinker  said  not  long  ago:  "An  honest 
God  is  the  noblest  work  of  man."  He  startled  a  few  ; 
but  a  finer,  clearer  truth,  has  not  lately  been  uttered. 
And  the  time  will  come  when  men  will  be  noble  and 
honorable  enough  themselves,  not  to  reflect  in  their 
conceptions  any  dishonoring  attribute  of  their  Maker. 
26*  u 


306        THE  OLD  AND  NEW  DISPENSATIONS. 

We  forget  that  we  make  our  own  gods,  —  the  gods 
we  worship, — if  not  with  our  hands,  with  our  dreams 
and  speculations  and  imaginations.  I  he  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  once,  we  remember,  "  thanked  God 
that  they  were  not  like  other  men."  To  be  sure 
they  were  not.  But  the  time  will  come,  when  it 
will  be  more  tolerable  for  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida, 
than  for  Scribes  and  Pharisees  boasting  in  that  way. 
Bigotry  and  self-righteousness  pulled  down  widows' 
houses  and  ground  the  faces  of  the  poor  to  the  earth  ; 
and  after  they  had  done  it,  threw  stones  at  Jesus  for 
not  tithing  anise,  mint,  and  cummin,  and  for  picking 
corn  on  Sunday.  But  the  time  will  come,  when  even 
"  publicans  and  harlots  shall  enter  the  Kingdom  of 
God  "  before  such  accusers. 

These  are  all  ideas  which  were  hinted  in  that  first 
pregnant  word,  "  Repent ! "  The  field  of  their  plant- 
ing, Christ  said,  is  "the  world."  This  field,  so  planted, 
the  Christian  dispensation  is  to  train,  cultivate  and 
develop,  until  the  grand  seed  shall  become  the 
grander  harvest.  These  are  the  sword-truths  that 
pierce  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  the  Old  and  the 
New ;  the  outward  and  the  inward ;  show  and  sub- 
stance; creeds  and  character;  profession  and  practice. 
Ye  have  heard  of  old  time,  "they  make  clean  the 
outside  of  the  cup  and  the  platter;"  but  I  say  unto 
you,  "he  that  makcth  clean  the  inside  of  the  platter 
and  the  cup,  is  clean  every  whit." 

These  are  the  lamps  to  guide  the  workmen  of 
truth  and  fidelity  from  the  first  hammer  sound  of 
Repentance,  to  the  last  finishing  stroke  that  brings 


AIM  TO  BE  CHARACTER-BUILDERS.  2>°7 

the  "  fullness  of  the  stature  "  of  the  perfect  man.  Not 
shadows  are  we  seeking  to-day ;  not  old  refrains  are 
we  to  repeat,  that  were  music  once  in  ears  no  longer 
quick.  We  are  to  take  living  truth  as  God  in  his 
last  words  has  given  it;  we  are  to  take  principles 
that  are  everlasting;  we  are  to  take  purities  that  are 
salt  and  full  of  heavenly  savor;  these  we  are  to  take, 
and  work  them  into  human  life  and  character.  We 
are  to  be  man-builders;  not  dream-builders,  not 
ceremony-builders,  not  speculation-builders,  simply, 
but  character-builders  through  and  through.  "  Re- 
pent," was  the  first  stroke  in  the  work;  "  Reform," 
carries  it  on ;  and  the  intelligence  and  fidelity  of 
spiritual  life,  able  to  take  up  and  prosecute  the  work 
to  the  crowning  finish,  constitute  the  true  disciple- 
ship  of  Christ. 

Repent  —  Reform  —  Regenerate  —  this  is  the  prac- 
tical trinity  of  Christian  religion  ;  these  are  the  ham- 
mer-strokes of  her  divine  workmanship;  the  stately 
steps  of  her  triumphant  march,  as  she  moves  on 
through  humanity,  conquering  and  to  conquer. 

Shall  we  keep  time  ? 


THE    END. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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